^d>^ 


SPAIN'S  DECLINING  POWER 

IN  SOUTH  AMERICA 

1730-1806 


BY 

BERNARD  MOSES 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  PRESS 
BERKELEY 

1919 


COPYBIOHT,  1919 
BT 

BERNARD  MOSES 


M'6: 


.2^ 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 
The  Beginnings  of  a  New  Society 

I.  Relation  of  the  Spaniards  to  the  Indians.  II. 
Spaniards,  Creoles,  and  Mestizos.    III.  The  new  society. 

1-11 
CHAPTER  II 

State  of  the  Spanish  Dependencies  in  South  America, 
1730-1750 

I.  Peru  in  the  beginning  of  the  period.  II.  The  after- 
math of  Antequera's  rebellion.  III.  The  controversy 
concerning  Colonia.  IV.  Montevideo  and  Tucuman.  V. 
Two  dec^jdes  of  Chilean  affairs.  VI.  The  University  of 
Chile.  Vlly  New  Granada  under  the  last  colonial  presi- 
dents. Vni.  The  state  of  Quito,  ff^  The  reestablished 
viceroyalty  of  New  Granada.  X.  Santo  Thome  and  the 
missions  of  the  plains.  XI.  The  little  revolution  of 
Trinidad.  12-72 

CHAPTER  III 

The  Spanish-Portuguese  Boundary  Treaty  of  1750 
and  the  War  of  the  Seven  Reductions 

I.  Terms  of  the  treaty  of  1750.  II.  Protests  of  the 
Indians  against  removal.  III.  The  boundary  commis- 
sioners and  the  disposition  of  the  Indians.  IV.  Active 
hostilities  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  against  the 
Indians  of  the  seven  reductions.  V.  ''Emperor"  Nich- 
olas Nanguiru,  further  hostilities,  and  preparations  for 
exile.  VI.  Failure  of  the  campaign  and  the  abrogation 
of  the  treaty.  73-96 


^ 


iv  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Expulsion  of  the  Jesuits 

I.  Viceroy  Amat  and  the  monopoly  of  alcohol.  II. 
Juan  Diaz  Herrera  and  the  revolt  in  Quito.  III.  The 
controversy  respecting  the  Jesuits.  IV.  The  decree  of 
expulsion.  V.  The  removal  of  the  Jesuits  from  the 
towns  of  Rio  de  la  Plata.  VI.  The  missionaries  of  the 
Chaco  and  the  region  about  Sierra  de  la  Cruz.  VII.  The 
expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  from  the  reductions  of  Para- 
^ay.  VIII.  The  Jesuits  of  Peru.  IX.  The  Jesuits  of 
Chile.  X.  Their  removal.  XI.  The  expulsion  from 
Ecuador.  .  XIL  The  Jesuits  removed  fropa  Bogota  and 
the  other  towns  of  New  Granada.  (XIII;  The  Jesuits 
of  the  llanos.    XIV.  The  Jesuits  in  exile.  97-152 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Creation  of  the  Viceroyalty  of  Rio  de  la  Plata 

I.  The  need  of  a  new  viceroyalty,  and  the  functions 
of  the  viceroy.  II.  The  audiencia  of  Charcas  and  the 
creation  of  the  viceroyatly  of  Rio  de  la  Plata.  III. 
Viceroy  Ceballos  and  his  army.  IV.  The  Spanish- 
Portuguese  treaty  of  1777.  V.  The  commercial  code  of 
1778.  VI.  Viceroy  Vertiz.  VII.  Fernandez  general  in- 
tendant  of  the  army  and  the  royal  treasury.        153-173 

CHAPTER  VI 

The  Revolt  of  Tupac  Amaru 

I.  Abuse  of  the  Indians  by  the  Corregidors.  II. 
Areche  as  visitador-general.  III.  Tupac  Amaru.  IV. 
The  beginning  of  hostilities.  V.  The  events  of  Oruro 
and  Sangarara.  VI.  Hopes  and  aims  of  Tupac  Amaru. 
VII.  The  overthrow  and  execution  of  the  Inca.  VIII. 
The  sieges  of  Sorata  and  La  Paz.  IX.  Results  of  the 
war.  174-203 


CONTENTS  V 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  Rebeluon  of  the  Communeros  in  New  Granada 

I.  Viceroy  Florez  and  the  visitador-regente  Pineres. 
II.  The  outbreak  in  Socorro.  III.  Organization  of  the 
Comun  under  Berbeo,  and  the  battle  of  Puente  Real. 

IV.  The  advance  on  Bogota,  and  the  flight  of  the  regent. 

V.  The  negotiations  and  the  agreement.  VI.  Galan  and 
the  new  revolt.  VII.  The  Indians  of  Nemocon,  and  the 
conclusion  of  the  conflict.  204-226 

CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Conspiracy  of  Gramuset  and  Berne y 
I.  The  revolt  under  Amat,   governor  and  captain- 
general  of  Chile.  II.  The  conspiracy  of  Gramuset  and 
Berney.    III.  The  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  the  con- 
spirators. 227-240 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  Reorganization  of  the  Viceroyalty  of 
Rio  de  la  Plata 

I.  The  OrdiTianza  de  Intendentes.  II.  Status  and 
functions  of  the  intendants.  III.  The  ordinance  applied 
in  Peru  and  Chile.  IV.  The  reformed  ordinance  of 
1801.  V.  The  state  of  Buenos  Aires  and  the  adjacent 
country.  241-255 

CHAPTER  X 

Awakening  Interest  in  Science  and  Politics:  Mutis 
and  Narino 

I.  Beginnings  of  literary  cultivation.  II.  El  Mer- 
curio  Peruano;  Papel  Periodico.  III.  Mutis'  arrival 
and  early  j-ears  in  New  Granada.  IV.  Mutis  turns  to 
Botany;  correspondence  with  Linnaeus.  V.  Work  of 
Caballero  y  Gongora  for  progress.     VI.  The  Botanical 


vi  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

Expedition.  VII.  The  viceroy  ordered  to  protect  the 
Isthmus  against  invasion.  VIII.  The  viceroy's  commer- 
cial views.  IX.  Botanical  Bureau's  headquarters  trans- 
ferred to  Bogota.  X.  The  Spanish  Botanical  Expedition 
to  Peru.  XI.  Narino  and  the  young  reformers  and  their 
trial.  XII.  Narino  in  Europe;  his  return  to  New  Gra- 
nada and  imprisonment.  256-291 

CHAPTER  XI 

Lima  and  Santiago  at  the  End  of  the  Century 

I.  The  position  and  external  form  of  Lima.  II.  The 
earthquake  of  1746.  III.  The  court  of  the  viceroy  and 
the  institutions  of  Lima.  IV.  Social  characteristics.  V. 
Santiago  de  Chile.     VI.  The  classes.  292-309 

CHAPTER  XII 

The  State  of  Venezuela  and  Miranda's  Expedition 

I.  External  attempts  to  overthrow  Spanish  rule.  II. 
The  captaincy-general  of  Venezuela.  III.  The  revolt  led 
by  Espaiia  and  Gaul  in  1797.  IV.  Manners  and  senti- 
ments of  the  inhabitants  of  Venezuela.  V.  The  unem- 
ployed and  the  remedy.  VI.  The  economic  confusion  in 
the  province.  VII.  Miranda's  project.  VIII.  Plans  of 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  IX.  The  expedi- 
tion from  the  United  States.  311-336 

CHAPTER  XIII 

The  British  Capture  and  Loss  of  Buenos  Aires 

I.  The  trade  of  Buenos  Aires.  II.  Plans  of  Great 
Britain  respecting  South  America.  III.  The  British 
advance  and  capture  of  the  city.  IV.  Liniers  and  the 
overthrow  of  Bercsford.  V.  The  cabildo  and  Liniers  in 
power.  VI.  British  reinforcements  and  the  recall  of 
Popham.    VII.  The  final  British  attack.  337-370 


CONTENTS  vii 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Peru  and  Chile  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century 

I.  The  viceroys.  II.  El  Mercurio  Peruano.  3.  Am- 
brosio  O'Higgins.  IV.  The  Araucanian  question.  V. 
Agriculture  and  the  system  of  encomiendas.  VI.  Fear 
of  foreign  trade  and  foreign  ideas.  VII.  The  last  vice- 
roy of  the  eighteenth  century.  VIII.  The  population. 
IX.  Commerce  and  industry.  X.  Titles  of  nobility 
and  entailed  estates.  XI.  Life  in  the  country.  XII. 
Hindrances  to  production.  XIII.  Royal  drafts  on  the 
resources.  372-426 

INDEX  427 


SPAIN'S  DECLINING  POWER  IN 
SOUTH  AMERICA 

INTRODUCTION 

Spanish  South  America  in  the  last  decades  of 
its  dependence  on  Spain  gave  evidence  of  a  de- 
cline in  Spain's  governmental  authority  and 
efficiency.  The  practice  of  the  crown  in  confer- 
ring important  offices  in  America  only  upon 
persons  sent  from  Spain  moved  the  Creoles  and 
mestizos  gradually  to  constitute  themselves  a 
society  apart  from  the  Spaniards.  This  society 
drifted  inevitably  into  opposition  to  the  estab- 
lished administration,  and  led  revolts  against  the 
government.  These  revolts,  in  many  instances, 
were  immediately  occasioned  by  the  imposition  of 
specific  fiscal  burdens,  and  they  indicate  that  the 
colonies  were  slipping  from  the  grasp  of  Spain 
even  before  the  creole-mestizo  element  in  the 
population  had  clearly  formed  a  design  for  eman- 
cipation. The  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  deprived 
the  dependencies  of  their  ablest  and  most  effective 
teachers,  and  took  from  the  industrial  and  com- 
mercial life  some  of  the  most  energetic  and  far- 
sighted  entrepreneurs.  By  this  act,  moreover, 
the  government  removed  the  only  body  of  resi- 


X  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

dents  who  manifested  any  clear  conception  of  the 
proper  relations  to  be  maintained  between  the 
Spaniards  and  the  Indians.  The  manner  in  which 
the  development  of  interest  in  science  and  politics 
contributed  to  the  spirit  of  patriotic  independence 
is  illustrated  by  the  careers  of  Mutis  and  Narino. 
The  outlook  towards  independence  is  further  pre-, 
sented  in  the  negotiations  and  expedition  of 
Miranda  and  the  heroic  defense  and  recapture*  of 
Buenos  Aires  by  the  citizens  after  Viceroy  Sobre- 
monte  had  ignominiously  abandoned  the  field'. 

The  stage  on  which  these  scenes  were  enacted 
was  the  part  of  the  territory  of  South  America 
then  held  by  Spain  and  now  claimed  by  Venezuela, 
Colombia,  Ecuador,  Peru,  Bolivia,  Chile,  Argen- 
tina, Uruguay,  and  Paraguay.  It  embraces  three 
of  the  four  great  river  systems  of  the  southern 
continent;  those  of  the  Orinoco,  the  Magdalena, 
and  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  The  principal  geograph- 
ical features  of  Venezuela  are  the  mountains  and 
the  hilly  country,  occupying  the  northern  and 
western  parts  of  the  territory,  and  the  llanos,  or 
plains,  comprising  the  basin  of  the  Orinoco,  and 
extending  from  the  western  mountains  to  the 
delta  of  that  river,  an  area  of  two  hundred  thou- 
sand square  miles.  In  some  parts  of  the  plains 
there  are  low  mesas,  the  remnants  of  an  ancient 
plateau  that  has  been  gradually  worn  away  by 
erosion.  Other  parts  of  this  region  are  as  level 
as  the  undisturbed  ocean.  Here  nature,  by  the 
vigorous  growth  that  follows  the  abundant  rains, 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

resists  the  encroachments  of  man's  cultivation, 
and  hitherto  has  tolerated  only  the  pastoral  life 
of  semi-nomads.  In  agreeable  and  fertile  valleys, 
between  the  mountain  ridges  and  the  plains,  lie 
a  number  of  the  principal  centers  of  population 
that  were  slowly  developed  during  the  colonial 
period.  Caracas,  the  most  important  of  these,  is 
about  six  miles  from  the  port  of  La  Guayra,  at  an 
elevation  of  three  thousand  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea.  Although  within  the  tropics,  this  eleva- 
tion ensures  it  a  mild  climate;  the  temperature 
ranges  annually  from  66°  to  75°.  In  the  colonial 
period,  a  road  over  the  miountain  was  practically 
the  only  line  of  connection  between  the  city  and 
its  port,  but  traffic  by  this  route  was  greatly 
diminished  by  the  opening  of  a  railroad  between 
the  two  places  in  1883.  Valencia  and  Barquisi- 
meto  are  two  other  towns  that  lie  within  this 
zone  of  eternal  spring.  The  former,  near  Lake 
Valencia,  at  an  elevation  of  sixteen  hundred  and 
twenty-five  feet,  is  a  little  warmer  than  Caracas, 
having  a  range  of  temperature  from  66°  to  87°, 
with  an  annual  mean  of  76°.  Barquisimeto  lies 
about  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  These 
interior  towns  have  outrun  in  prosperity  the 
earlier  settlements  of  Coro  and  Cumana,  near  the 
coast. 

The  part  of  the  viceroyalty  of  New  Granada 
that  became  the  territory  of  Colombia  extended 
along  the  Atlantic  between  fifteen  hundred  and 
sixteen  hundred  miles,  and  had  a  Pacific  coast  of 


xii  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

nearly  the  same  extent.  But  in  spite  of  the  king- 
dom's more  than  three  thousand  miles  of  ocean 
coast,  the  real  entrance  to  the  country  was,  and 
has  continued  to  be,  the  Magdalena  River.  It  was 
by  this  water  route  that  Quesada  advanced  to  the 
land  of  the  Chibchas,  and  founded  Bogota  on  the 
plateau  of  Cundinamarca.  Santa  Marta  and  Car- 
tagena on  the  coast,  the  former  east  of  the  river 
and  the  latter  west  of  it,  were  founded  before 
any  interior  settlements,  and  remained  important, 
particularly  Cartagena,  throughout  the  colonial 
period.  Cartagena,  with  its  excellent  harbor, 
became  the  halting  place  for  vessels  engaged  in 
trade  with  Peru,  bound  from  Spain  to  the  Isthmus. 
It  was  regarded  as  the  bulwark  of  the  country, 
and  vast  sums  were  expended  on  its  walls  and 
other  defences.  But  Bogota,  established  far  from 
the  coast  and  at  an  elevation  of  eight  thousand 
six  hundred  and  eighty  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  became  the  political  and  ecclesiastical 
capital,  and  was  reached  from  the  northern  coast 
only  by  a  long  journey  on  the  Magdalena  River  to 
Honda,  and  by  a  difficult  mountain  trail  from 
Honda  to  the  plateau  on  which  the  city  stands. 
Of  the  valleys  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Magdalena, 
that  of  the  Cauca  River  was  destined  to  become 
especially  important  by  reason  of  its  fertility  and 
agreeable  climate.  The  independent  river  Atrato, 
running  through  the  low  lands  near  the  western 
coast  and  flowing  into  the  gulf  of  Uraba,  was  some- 
times regarded  as  furnishing,  with  the  river  San 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

Juan,  a  possible  water-way  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific,  but  its  low  and  marshy  valley  never 
acquired  great  significance  in  the  life  of  the  vice- 
royalty.  It  was  at  the  elevated  and  isolated  cap- 
ital that  the  real  struggle  for  civilization  in  this 
part  of  South  America  was  carried  on. 

During  the  later  decades  of  the  colonial  period, 
the  territory  of  Ecuador  was  subject  to  the  vice- 
roy of  New  Granada,  but  in  some  part  of  the 
period  Quito  was  the  seat  of  an  audiencia.  This 
city  derived  some  of  its  significance  from  the  fact 
that  it  was  the  capital  of  a  Quichua  kingdom  be- 
fore the  Spanish  invasion.  Its  position  in  the 
Andean  region  that  extends  southward  from 
Bogota,  at  an  elevation  of  9350  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  gives  it  a  temperate  climate, 
although  it  lies  directly  on  the  equator.  It  is  one 
hundred  and  fourteen  miles  from  the  coast  and 
one  hundred  and  sixty-five  miles  northeast  of  the 
port  of  Guayaquil.  Through  this  port  Quito  had 
its  connection  with  the  traffic  of  the  sea.  Over 
this  long  and  difficult  route  it  sent  out  its  prod- 
ucts, particularly  its  textile  fabrics,  and  imported 
much  that  it  consumed  of  European  wares.  The 
road  begun  by  Maldonado  and  designed  to  reach 
the  port  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  Esmeraldas 
was  never  completed,  and  in  consequence  of  the 
difficulty  of  communication  with  the  other  depen- 
dencies and  with  Spain,  the  city  and  the  region 
about  it  remained  of  only  secondary  importance 
in  the  colonial  empire.     The  positions   of  both 


xiv  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

Bogota  and  Quito  were  determined  by  previous 
establishments  of  the  Indians.  The  position  of 
Lima,  on  the  other  hand,  was  fixed  solely  by  con- 
siderations of  convenience  and  advantage  as  they 
appeared  to  the  Spaniards.  Its  founders,  after 
due  deliberation,  decided  in  1535  to  plant  it  where 
it  now  stands,  six  miles  from  its  port,  five  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
Rimac.  In  this  they  broke  with  the  tradition  of 
the  Indians,  who  preferred  the  high  lands,  the 
slopes  of  the  Andes,  to  the  sandy  coast  of  the 
Pacific,  and  who  had  already  in  Cuzco  a  consider- 
able city.  But  the  Indians  had  no  need  of  com- 
merce by  the  ocean,  while  this  commerce  was 
necessary  to  make  useful  for  the  Spaniards  the 
wealth  of  the  country.  The  ocean  to  the  Indians 
was  a  limit  of  their  lands,  not  a  highway  to  a  mar- 
ket. Under  the  Spaniards  Lima  became  a  market 
and  a  governmental  residence.  The  wealth  of  the 
country  was  drawn  from  the  mines  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Upper  Peru,  now  Bolivia,  and  exchanged  at 
Lima  for  imported  European  wares.  This  process 
gave  character  to  two  centers  of  civilization  in 
Peru :  Lima,  the  seat  of  the  exchange,  and  cities, 
such  as  Chuquisaca,  Oruro,  and  Potosi,  that  came 
into  existence  and  flourished  near  the  mines. 
They  flourished  while  the  mines  continued  to  pour 
out  their  treasures,  but,  as  the  regions  where  they 
were  established  were  unfavorable  for  agricul- 
ture, they  declined  when  the  mines  ceased  to  yield 
in  abundance.    With  the  failure  of  the  mines  in 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

any  given  part  of  the  high  lands  of  Upper  Peru 
there  was  no  other  form  of  production  to  provide 
an  economic  basis  for  society  in  the  region  in 
question.  In  Chile  a  different  state  of  things  pre- 
vailed. There  was  much  profitable  mining  in  the 
early  decades,  and  the  fertile  soil  offered  abun- 
dant rewards  for  cultivation.  When,  therefore, 
the  mines  failed,  the  colony  was  able  to  rely  on 
agriculture.  The  population  in  the  mining  regions 
of  Peru  increased  with  the  prosperity  of  the 
mines,  and  diminished  with  their  decline ;  in  Chile 
it  suffered  no  such  fate ;  it  had  a  slower  but  con- 
tinuous growth;  the  wheat  fields  furnished  a 
product  for  exportation  hardly  less  valuable  than 
that  of  the  mines.  The  Pacific  coast  of  Chile 
extends  a  distance  of  some  three  thousand  miles 
from  north  to  south,  and  the  narrow  land  that 
lies  along  the  foot  of  the  Andes,  between  the 
mountains  and  the  sea,  forms,  in  the  middle  part 
of  the  country,  one  of  the  world's  most  favored 
fields  for  civilization.  The  desert  lands  of  the 
rainless  region  of  the  north  are  in  striking  con- 
trast with  those  settled  in  the  period  of  Spanish 
colonization.  In  the  vast  nitrate  deposits  they 
have  a  source  of  great  wealth,  but  none  of  the 
natural  conditions  that  promote  the  establish- 
ment and  growth  of  progressive  society.  In  that 
part  of  the  long  vallej^  where  the  city  of  Santiago 
lies  at  an  elevation  of  two  thousand  feet,  the  fer- 
tile soil  and  the  mild  climate  make  this  part  of 
Chile  an  especially  attractive  seat  of  human  cul- 


xvi  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

ture.  The  lower  levels  of  the  southern  districts 
of  Chile  present  a  rare  and  fruitful  combination 
of  field,  forest,  lake,  and  river,  but  the  stout 
resistance  of  the  Araucanians  prevented  the  full 
exploitation  of  this  region  in  the  period  here 
under  consideration. 

In  the  southeastern  part  of  the  continent,  as 
well  as  in  Chile,  agricultural  resources  induced 
only  a  late  social  development.  The  barren  moun- 
tains of  the  northern  part  of  the  viceroyalty  of 
Rio  de  la  Plata  supported  flourishing  and  popu- 
lous cities,  while  the  rich  lands  drained  by  the 
La  Plata  River  system  showed  few  signs  of  prog- 
ress. But  the  later  state  of  the  low-land  cities, 
compared  with  the  mining  cities  of  the  high  lands, 
furnishes  a  further  confirmation  of  the  fact  that 
the  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift.  Decade  had 
followed  decade  throughout  the  greater  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  with  little  change  except 
what  might  be  observed  in  the  increasing  herds 
of  the  plains  and  the  growth  of  contraband  trade 
through  Colonia.  The  pampas,  or  plains,  of 
Argentina,  extending  six  or  seven  hundred  miles 
from  the  foothills  of  the  Andes  to  the  Rio  de  la 
Plata  and  the  Atlantic,  with  a  regular  incline  in 
that  distance  of  somewhat  more  than  two  thou- 
sand feet,  and  stretching  fourteen  hundred  or 
fifteen  hundred  miles  from  north  to  south,  has  no 
equally  extensive  rivals  in  fertility  and  possible 
productiveness  except  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  the  plains  of  Russia.    The  rich  pastures 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

of  Argentina  and  Uruguay,  in  the  course  of 
decades  became  covered  with  vast  herds,  the  natu- 
ral increase  of  the  horses  and  cattle  that  had  been 
abandoned  by  the  early  settlers  of  Buenos  Aires. 
In  these  herds  the  inhabitants  had  for  the  taking 
an  abundance  of  flesh  for  food  and  hides  for  the 
limited  foreign  commerce.  Supplied  with  this 
form  of  food  without  great  effort,  and  with  the 
danger  of  extreme  want  removed,  the  bulk  of 
the  inhabitants  became  preeminently  flesh-eaters. 
For  many  years  there  was  lacking  an  effective 
incentive  to  the  production  of  articles  that  would 
adequately  furnish  a  more  varied  diet.  But 
through  the  stimulus  of  a  freer  commerce  and  an 
enlarged  market,  agriculture  was  gradually  devel- 
oped, and  became  a  rival  of  pastoral  cultivation. 
Under  the  larger  freedom  of  commerce  accorded 
by  the  code  of  1778,  Buenos  Aires  distanced  all 
other  ports  of  this  southeastern  part  of  Spain's 
possessions.  Asuncion  in  Paraguay,  that  had 
flourished  in  the  earlier  decades,  became  a  stag- 
nant capital  of  an  earthly  paradise.  With  its  herds 
and  fruits,  its  tobacco  and  mate,  Paraguay  pre- 
sented physical  conditions  that  seemed  to  favor 
prosperity  and  progress.  Its  impediments  were 
its  isolation  in  the  interior  of  the  continent,  about 
a  thousand  miles  up  the  river  from  the  more 
favored  ports  of  Buenos  Aires  and  Montevideo, 
its  preponderance  of  Indian  blood  in  the  popula- 
tion, and  the  unreasonable  internal  conflict  be- 
tween secular  and  ecclesiastical  factions. 


xviii  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

But  an  economic  awakening,  after  two  hun- 
dred years  of  stagnation,  appeared  in  this  region, 
with  the  failure  of  Spain's  policy  of  restriction 
and  the  adoption  of  the  code  of  1778.  Prior  to 
this  change,  the  government  in  Spain  had  been 
illustrating  throughout  these  vast  dominions,  how 
human  cultivation  and  progress  may  be  throttled 
and  suppressed  in  the  presence  of  material  re- 
sources greater  than  any  that  had  previously 
appeared  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Within  this  territory  there  were  developed 
different  political  groups  whose  varying  social 
characteristics  were  due  in  a  large  measure  to  the 
natural  environment  of  the  several  groups  and  to 
the  different  qualities  of  the  Indians  who  became 
amalgamated  with  the  Spanish  invaders.  The 
history  of  these  groups,  or  political  entities  de- 
pendent on  Spain  is  a  part  of  Spanish  history; 
at  least  some  changes  effected  in  the  course  of 
their  growth  were  ordered  by  the  supreme  politi- 
cal authority,  and  may  be  observed  from  the  view- 
point of  Spain.  But  there  were  other  changes  or 
events  in  this  development  that  proceeded  from 
the  conscious  designs  of  the  colonists,  from  the 
efforts  of  settlers  in  a  strange  country  to  adjust 
themselves  to  their  new  circumstances,  and  from 
the  unconscious  influences  of  the  widely  varying 
nature  in  the  different  provinces.  These  latter 
events  and  forces  seldom  rose  above  the  Madrid 
horizon,  and  this  fact  makes  it  necessary  to 
assume  a  position  outside  of  that  horizon  in  order 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

to  obtain  a  complete  view  of  the  life  that  went 
on  in  the  colonies.  From  the  viewpoint  of  the 
king  and  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  an  account  of 
the  history  of  the  dependencies  may  very  well 
have  a  larger  measure  of  unity  than  when  pre- 
sented from  the  viewpoint  of  colonial  life  that 
varied  greatly  in  the  different  dependencies.  But 
by  emphasizing  the  events  or  movements  affecting 
all  the  colonies,  such  as  the  growth  of  a  creole- 
mestizo  society,  an  awakening  intellectual  interest 
in  nature  and  politics,  the  overthrow  of  a  religious 
order  established  in  all  of  the  colonies,  and  the 
rebellions  and  conspiracies  of  the  last  decades  of 
the  century,  as  features  common  to  many  political 
divisions,  the  history  of  Spanish  South  America, 
even  when  considered  from  the  viewpoint  of 
colonial  conditions,  may  seem  to  have  a  certain 
unity,  in  spite  of  the  wide  geographical  separa- 
tion, and  the  differing  qualities  of  the  inhabitants, 
of  the  several  dependencies. 

Spain's  power  in  America  gave  evidence  of 
declining  before  the  colonies  showed  any  signs 
of  an  effective  organization  designed  to  supplant 
legitimate  authority.  For  decades  the  principal 
indication  of  change  was  the  indisposition  of 
officials  in  the  colonies  to  carry  out,  or  force  the 
strict  execution  of,  the  laws.  In  very  many 
instances  there  was  apparently  no  thought  of 
creating  a  new  power,  only  a  protest  against  the 
0  conduct  of  the  existing  government.  In  the  period 
here  examined,  from  1730  to  1806,   the  decline 


XX  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

was  hardly  stayed  even  by  the  energy  of  Charles 
III.  In  fact,  that  king's  most  positive  show  of 
administrative  strength,  the  expulsion  of  the 
Jesuits,  did  not  hinder  but  rather  hastened  the 
decline  of  Spanish  power  in  the  colonies.  The 
king  and  the  Council  of  the  Indies  continued  to 
issue  decrees  in  the  spirit  of  Spain's  govern- 
mental traditions,  but  the  officials  in  America  dis- 
played increasing  reluctance  to  execute  them 
exactly.  The  colonists  frequently  supported  this 
attitude  of  the  officials,  because  it  was  often 
materially  advantageous  to  them  that  the  royal 
decrees  should  not  be  carried  out.  The  history 
of  these  last  decades  of  Spanish  rule  in  South 
America  shows  the  affairs  of  the  colonies  drifting 
towards  the  crisis  reached  in  the  war  of  indepen- 
dence. 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  A  NEW  SOCIETY 

The  Relation  of  the  Spaniards  to  the  Indians.  II. 
Spaniards,  Creoles,  and  Mestizos.  III.  The  new 
society. 


A  crviLizED  nation  of  this  century,  attempting  to 
adjust  itself  to  a  less  developed  people,  has  for  its 
instruction  a  number  of  experiments  by  other 
modern  nations,  but  when  the  Spaniards  under- 
took the  control  of  Indians  in  America,  they  were 
pioneers;  they  had  for  their  guidance  only  the 
experience  of  Spain  in  her  internal  affairs.  They 
had  known  a  society  where  classes  were  widely 
separated,  and  such  a  society  they  fostered  in  the 
New  World.  They  undertook  to  transfer  to 
America  the  social  distinctions  that  were  the 
legitimate  product  of  a  long  differentiating  social 
growth.  They  exerted  powerful  influences  to 
make  life  in  the  colonies  grow  into  conformity 
with  the  European  type.  They  put  forth  distinct 
efforts  to  counteract  any  democratic  influence,  or 
any  non-European  social  forms,  that  might  issue 
from  the  conditions  of  a  new  country.  They 
created  a  titled  nobility,  and,  where  titles  were 
not  formally  granted,  the  relation  of  the  encom- 


2  .SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

endero  to  his  dependents  offered  a  distinctly 
recognized  superior  and  inferior.  And  whatever 
influence  the  church  exerted  was  clearly  in  favor 
of  centralized  authority;  it  was  in  no  sense  sug- 
gestive of  equality  or  of  a  democratic  social 
organization.  In  fact,  in  all  the  activity  of  the 
earlier  phases  of  colonial  life  in  South  America, 
there  was  no  anticipation  of  a  point  of  view  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  had  been  traditional  in 
Spain. 

The  Indians  were  adopted  as  an  element  in 
the  society  of  the  colonies.  The  absence  of  any 
conception  of  equality  was  important.  It  left  a 
l^lace  in  the  social  order  for  the  Indians.  In  New 
England,  on  the  contrary,  the  notion  of  equality 
appeared.  The  Indian  could  not,  in  any  time 
allotted  to  him,  rise  to  equality  with  the  Euro- 
pean; and  the  New  Englander,  by  not  providing 
a  lower  subordinate  or  vassal  class,  left  no  place 
for  him. 

The  Spaniard  built  magnificent  churches, 
filled  them  with  decorations,  and  organized  bril- 
liant processions  to  attract  the  barbarians.  The 
government,  moreover,  provided  penalties  for 
keeping  Indians  from  the  churches  on  certain 
specified  occasions.  The  New  Englander  built 
churches,  and  insisted  on  the  absence  of  artistic 
decoration.  To  these  churches  he  went  in  solemn 
and  exclusive  devotion,  armed  and  munitioned 
against  any  Indian  who  might  dare  to  appear.  In 
the  Spanish  colony  inequality  was  recognized  from 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  A  NEW  SOCIETY      3 

the  beginning,  and  the  Indian  had  a  place  in  the 
lower  divisions  of  the  social  structure.  In  the 
English  colonies  the  spirit  of  equality  excluded 
him. 

The  retention  of  the  Indians  as  an  element  in 
Spanish-American  society  provided  occasion  for 
the  rise  of  a  class  of  mestizos  to  bridge  the  social 
chasm  between  the  Europeans  and  the  Indians. 
In  dealing  with  this  class  the  Spaniards  displayed 
a  degree  of  wisdom  not  always  shown  in  later 
colonizing  by  other  nations.  In  Java,  for  instance, 
under  the  Dutch,  a  distinct  line  of  discrimination 
was  drawn  between  the  European  and  the  Java- 
nese. All  persons  having  any  measure  of  Euro- 
pean blood  were  counted  as  Europeans.  They 
held  themselves  aloof  from  the  natives  of  pure 
blood,  but  neither  their  attainments  nor  their 
ambitions  enabled  them  to  participate,  without 
prejudice,  in  the  activities  of  the  Dutch.  The 
Spaniards  gave  no  such  artificial  position  to  the 
mestizos.  These  products  of  Spanish-Indian 
unions  were  numerous.  Their  origin  and  quali- 
ties were  recognized,  but  they  were  not  separated 
either  from  the  Indians  or  the  Spaniards  by  any 
hard  and  fast  line.  They  were  allowed  to  take 
their  chances  of  rising  or  falling  in  the  communi- 
ties of  their  residence.  Neither  custom  nor  law 
hedged  them  about  in  a  restricted  position.  The 
population  of  the  Spanish  dependencies  was  thus 
shaded  off  through  the  Creoles,  the  mestizos,  and 
the  semi-civilized  Indians  down  to  the  untamed 
savages. 


SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 


II 

The  Spaniards  did,  however,  draw  a  line  of 
demarcation,  but  in  this  discrimination  the  differ- 
ences of  races  played  no  part.  The  line  was 
drawn  between  Spaniards  born  in  Spain  and 
Spaniards  of  the  same  stock  born  in  America;  in 
a  word,  between  Spaniards  and  Creoles.  It  was 
conceived  that  a  great  gulf  was  fixed  between  the 
Spaniards  who  were  born  in  Spain  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  same  people  who  were  born  and  lived 
in  a  Spanish  colony. 

The  depreciation  of  the  Creoles  was  so  extreme 
and  general  that  Spanish  parents  who  emigrated 
held  in  very  different  regard  their  children  who 
were  born  in  Spain  and  those  who  were  born  later 
in  America.  In  public  affairs  the  same  prejudice 
was  manifest.  The  Spanish-creole  conflict  ex- 
tended even  to  the  monks  in  the  monasteries.  The 
occupants  of  the  monasteries  and  of  the  numerous 
religious  houses  of  all  kinds  were  composed  of 
two  diverse  elements,  Spaniards  and  Creoles, 
who  lived  in  almost  perpetual  hostility.  The  high 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  offices  were  given  to  Span- 
iards but  not  to  Creoles.  But  in  the  course  of  time 
the  Creoles  became  a  numerous  class.  They 
acquired  wealth;  and  many  of  them,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  facilities  for  instruction  in  Lima, 
Cordova,  Santiago,  Bogota,  and  Caracas,  as  well 
as  in  different  parts  of  Europe,  became  men  of 
extensive  intellectual  attainments  and  cultivation. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  A  NEW  SOCIETY      5 

They  knew  the  circumstances  and  needs  of  the 
colonies,  and  were  conscious  of  their  own  fitness 
to  have  a  part  in  the  colonial  government.  When, 
therefore,  they  were  excluded  from  public  office, 
they  very  naturally  felt  that  they  were  the  victims 
of  an  unjust  discrimination.  By  this  attitude  of 
the  Spanish  government,  all  persons  thus  un- 
justly affected,  their  relatives,  their  friends,  and 
their  dependents  were  drawn  together  into  the 
solidarity  of  an  increasingly  powerful  opposition. 

Even  in  her  virtuous  solicitude  for  the  welfare 
of  her  unmarried  daughters,  Spain  strengthened 
this  opposition  and  helped  to  prepare  for  a  social 
revolution  in  America.  By  positive  law  and  by 
the  restraints  of  an  efficient  administrative  system, 
unmarried  Spanish  women  were  prevented  from 
emigrating;  but  a  large  number  of  the  men  who 
went  to  the  colonies  were  unmarried.  The  inevi- 
table consequence  of  this  state  of  affairs  was  the 
rise  of  a  large  class  of  mestizos,  who  became 
affiliated  with  the  increasing  class  of  Creoles. 

Another  consequence  of  the  amalgamation  of 
the  Spanish  and  Indian  peoples  was  the  creation 
of  marked  differences  among  the  populations  of 
different  districts.  The  differing  Indian  peoples 
in  their  union  with  Spaniards  produced  descend- 
ants of  varying  qualities.  Much  of  the  character 
of  the  bold,  hardy,  independent  Araucanian  re- 
appeared in  the  Chilean  mestizo.  The  gentle 
Peruvian  Indians,  on  the  other  hand,  under  the 
severe  discipline  of  their  rulers,  were  unfavorably 


6  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

placed  for  developing  heroic  qualities;  and  they 
passed  on  to  their  mestizo  descendants  the  virtues 
of  gentleness  and  amiability  rather  than  the 
sterner  qualities  of  a  warlike  people.  Thus,  in 
the  course  of  time,  within  the  limits  of  her  South 
American  dominions,  Spain  had  to  deal  not  with 
one  homogeneous  people,  but  with  a  number  of 
nations,  who,  although  using  a  common  language, 
were  about  as  unlike  one  another  as  are  the 
nations  of  Western  Europe.  These  differences  of 
character  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  several 
political  divisions  imposed  a  heavy  administra- 
tive task  upon  Spain  at  a  time  when  she  was 
undertaking  to  govern  her  vast  colonial  empire 
under  a  system  that  took  no  account  of  social 
differences  or  the  varying  demands  of  unlike 
climatic  conditions.  Under  this  state  of  things 
Spain's  government  of  her  dependencies  became 
gradually  more  ineffective,  and  this  lessening  of 
the  disciplinary  power  of  the  legitimate  regime 
permitted  the  growth  of  the  creole-mestizo  party 
of  opposition,  and  the  development  in  it  of  com- 
munity self-consciousness  and  a  certain  sense  of 
independence.  While  the  application  of  Spain's 
rigid  system  of  colonial  government  might  find 
favor  in  one  quarter,  it  tended  to  provoke  dis- 
satisfaction and  a  temper  of  revolt  in  another.  It 
pleased  Lima,  because  the  merchants  of  that  city 
enjoyed  important  commercial  privileges;  but 
Buenos  Aires  had  no  privileges,  had  not  even  the 
advantages  of  freedom  of  trade,  and  consequently 
manifested  a  rapidly  declining  loyalty;  and,  as 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  A  NEW  SOCIETY      7 

subsequent  events  proved,  the  chain  of  provincial 
administrations  in  the  colonies  was  no  stronger 
than  the  weakest  link.  The  triumphant  self- 
assertion  of  the  new  society  in  one  province  meant 
its  ultimate  domination  in  all  other  provinces. 
The  line  of  cleavage  between  the  new  society  and 
the  old,  between  the  creole-mestizo  element  and 
the  Spanish  element,  appeared,  from  one  view- 
point, as  the  line  between  privileges  and  no  privi- 
leges, between  the  recipients  of  political  favors 
and  those  who  were  excluded  from  such  favors. 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  many  of  the  Indians, 
notably  the  Chibchas,  of  Colombia,  and  the  Ayma- 
ras  of  Peru,  represented  a  certain  phase  of  civili- 
zation, the  mestizos  shaded  off  imperceptibly  into 
the  Indians  of  pure  blood.  In  connection  with  this 
fact,  one  is  able  to  see  the  importance  of  that 
feature  of  Spain's  policy  which  provided  for  the 
adoption  of  the  Indians  as  members  of  the  colonial 
society.  This  was  in  marked  contrast  with  the 
English  plan.  The  Spaniards  accepted  the  Indian 
but  assigned  him  a  social  position  like  that  held 
by  a  dependent  class  recognized  in  the  European 
feudal  order.  With  the  Indians  in  feudal  sub- 
jection to  Spaniards  it  was  thought  to  be  possible 
to  preserve  in  Spanish  America  differentiated 
classes  corresponding  with  those  of  Europe.  But 
the  more  important  result  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Indians  into  the  body  of  colonial  society  was  the 
fact  that,  separated  by  their  dependent  position 
from  the  Spanish  encomenderos  and  the  official 
class,  they  became  attached  to,  or  embodied  in, 


8  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

the  Creole-mestizo  element,  and  thus  constituted 
an  effective  part  of  the  new  society. 

In  what  may  be  called  the  germ  of  colonial 
society,  there  was  no  middle  class  between  the 
encomendero  g^nd  his  dependent  Indians;  but  the 
lack  was  supplied  in  the  course  of  time  by  the 
appearance  of  the  mestizos,  the  landless  Creoles, 
and  the  adopted  Indians.  The  development  con- 
tinued until  the  population  of  Spanish  South 
America  embraced,  on  the  one  hand,  a  class  of 
Spanish  officials  and  other  Spaniards  who  con- 
served the  interests  and  traditions  of  Spain,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  combined  classes  of  Cre- 
oles, mestizos,  and  Indians.  When  this  point  had 
been  attained,  a  far-reaching  social  change  was 
impending.  Its  practical  crisis,  or  the  self-asser- 
tion of  the  hitherto  suppressed  party,  was  delayed 
by  the  isolation  of  the  colonies  and  the  consequent 
absence  of  free  intellectual  activity.  During  the 
seventeenth  century  this  isolation  was  practically 
complete,  except  for  the  infrequent  communica- 
tion that  was  maintained  between  the  colonies  and 
Spain.  No  enlightenment  came  at  this  time  to  the 
mass  of  the  people  from  the  English  colonies,  for 
these  colonies  were  still  in  the  period  of  their 
feeble  beginnings ;  and  the  subjects  of  other  Euro- 
pean nations  were  effectually  excluded.  The  im- 
portation of  books  of  information  was  prohibited, 
and  no  ray  of  light  reached  them  except  that 
which  passed  through  the  distorting  mind  of  the 
Spanish  ecclesiastics. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  A  NEW  SOCIETY      9 


III 

A  revival  of  nationalism  in  Spain  in  the  second 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  tended  to  con- 
firm the  loyalty  of  the  colonial  officials ;  but  it  did 
not  remove  the  alienation  of  the  increasing  body 
of  Creoles,  mestizos,  and  Indians.  The  line  of 
separation  became  fixed.  The  old  policy  of  privi- 
lege and  unjust  discrimination  was  continued. 
The  viceroys,  the  captains  general,  the  judges, 
the  high  ecclesiastics,  the  bulk  of  the  priests,  in 
short,  all  the  holders  of  desirable  offices  continued 
to  be  sent  from  Spain,  and  men  born  in  the  colo- 
nies, whatever  might  be  their  attainments  or 
fitness  for  the  posts  in  question,  were  neglected, 
were  left  without  political  recognition.  The  line 
excluding  the  Creoles,  the  mestizos,  and  the  In- 
dians from  any  participation  in  the  public  affairs 
that  concerned  them,  was  becoming  every  year 
more  distinctly  recognized. 

Although  the  Spanish  government  appears  to 
have  been  entirely  unaware  of  the  fact,  in  the 
neglected  members  of  the  colonies  were  laid  the 
foundations  of  a  new  society.  From  this  point 
onward  through  the  succeeding  decades  of  Span- 
ish colonial  politics  we  observe  the  decline  of  one 
section  of  the  population  and  the  rise  of  the  other 
section.  We  observe,  moreover,  the  attempt  on 
the  part  of  Spain  to  govern  the  colonies  in  accord- 
ance with  her  original  plan,  and  the  recurring 
evidence  of  her  inability  to  adapt  herself  to  the 


10  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

changing  conditions  and  the  changing  needs  of 
the  colonies.  Three  facts  in  this  history,  how- 
ever, assured  the  superiority  and  ultimate  domin- 
ation of  the  creole-mestizo  class.  One  of  these 
was  the  continuation  by  the  Spanish  government 
of  its  uncompromising,  repelling,  and  exclusive 
attitude  towards  that  class,  thus  keeping  alive 
class  antagonisms;  another  was  the  fact  that  the 
number  of  persons  born  in  the  colonies,  Creoles 
and  mestizos,  in  a  given  period  was  in  excess  of 
the  number  added  to  the  population  by  immigra- 
tion; a  third  was  the  fact  that  the  Creoles  and 
mestizos  were  practically  the  only  persons  who 
were  sufficiently  openminded  to  receive  the  liberal 
ideas  that  gradually  drifted  into  the  colonies  from 
foreign  countries,  particularly  from  Great  Britain 
and  the  now  awakened  British  colonies  in  Amer- 
ica. The  failure  of  the  Spaniards  living  in  the 
colonies  to  be  influenced  by  imported  ideas  was 
not  due  to  any  intellectual  inferiority  on  their 
part  as  compared  with  the  Creoles,  but  to  the  fact 
that  they  were  placed  in  a  non-receptive  mood 
by  the  offices  or  commercial  privileges  which  they 
enjoyed,  and  by  their  natural  adherence  to  the 
ideas  and  spirit  of  Spain.  All  the  higher  officials, 
civil,  military,  and  ecclesiastical,  were  opposed 
to  any  access  of  liberalism,  since  their  privileges 
were  created  and  upheld  by  the  government 's  con- 
servative policy;  and  coming,  as  they  did,  from 
Spain,  they  very  naturally  stood  for  the  ideas 
dominant   in  the   country  they  had  left.     Thus 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  A  NEW  SOCIETY    11 

the  enlightenment  which  gradually  streamed  in 
through  the  breaking  walls  of  Spain's  exclusive- 
ness  influenced  especially  the  members  of  the  new 
society.  Their  attainment  of  more  liberal  ideas 
through  their  growing  connection  with  Great 
Britain  and  the  British  colonies  carried  them 
farther  and  farther  from  the  position  of  those 
who  represented  the  old  order  of  things.  The 
new  society  became  more  and  more  clearly  con- 
scious of  the  separation.  It  became  conscious, 
moreover,  that  its  interests  were  opposed  to  the 
purposes  of  the  Spanish  government;  and  that 
these  interests  would  be  properly  safeguarded 
only  by  its  control  of  the  public  affairs  which  con- 
cerned its  members. 

The  discussions,  the  agitation,  the  rebellions, 
and  the  military  campaigns  of  the  later  decades 
of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  early  years  of 
the  nineteenth  century  gave  evidence  of  dissatis- 
faction with  the  old  order  of  affairs,  and  reveal 
efforts,  often  misdirected,  to  realize  new  ideals. 
The  ideas  and  sentiments  of  the  new  society,  or 
the  opposition  party,  determined  the  most  con- 
spicuous events  in  the  history  of  the  last  quarter 
of  the  century.  This  creole-mestizo  element  of 
the  population  resented  the  centuries-long  mani- 
festation of  Spain's  arrogance  and  exclusiveness ; 
it  resented  the  injustice  of  her  social  discrimina- 
tion; and  this  resentment  inspired  the  rebellions 
and  conspiracies  that  seemed  to  presage  the  end 
of  Spanish  rule. 


CHAPTER  II 

STATE  OF  SPANISH  SOUTH  AMERICA  IN  THE 
MIDDLE  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

I.  Peru  in  the  middle  of  the  century.  II.  The  aftermath 
of  Antequera's  rebellion.  III.  The  controversy  con- 
cerning Colonia.  IV.  Montevideo  and  Tucuman. 
V.  Two  decades  of  Chilean  affairs.  VI.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Chile.  VII.  New  Granada  under  the 
last  colonial  presidents.    VIII.  The  state  of  Quito. 

IX.  The  reestablished  viceroyalty  of  New  Granada. 

X.  Santo  Thome  and  the  missions  of  the  plains. 
XL  The  little  revolution  of  Trinidad. 


In  the  later  decades  of  Spanish  rule  the  native 
element  in  the  population  became  conscious  of  its 
real  position,  of  its  exclusion  from  places  of 
authority,  and  gradually  constituted  itself  a  party 
of  opposition  and  reform  in  the  several  depen- 
dencies. The  activity  of  the  French  merchants 
in  the  beginning  of  the  century  had  shown  to  the 
colonists  the  advantages  of  a  large  measure  of 
freedom  in  commercial  affairs.  The  officials  in 
the  Indies  failed  to  execute  the  decrees  of  the 
superior  authorities,  designed  to  restrict  trade 
with  the  colonies  to  Spanish  merchants,  and  in 
this  they  were  upheld  by  the  colonists.    After  the 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      13 

first  important  shock,  the  ancient  system  provid- 
ing for  monopolies  and  the  exclusion  of  foreign 
trade  never  regained  its  lost  vigor  and  effective- 
ness. 

Near  the  middle  of  the  century  the  internal 
affairs  of  the  viceroyalty  of  Peru  were  over- 
whelmed in  confusion.  Lima  and  Callao  were 
destroyed  by  the  earthquake  of  1746,  and  four 
years  later  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital  were 
threatened  with  destruction  by  an  uprising  of  the 
Indians.  The  plans  of  the  leaders  of  the  in- 
surgents were  revealed  to  the  viceroy,  and  this 
informi4'<>»n  was  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of 
a  person  who  had  succeeded  in  gaining  access  to 
a  meeting  of  the  hostile  junta.  Six  of  the  prin- 
cipal conspirators  were  executed.  Others  escaped 
and  moved  the  province  of  Huarochiri  to  revolt. 
They  killed  a  number  of  the  officials  and  other 
Spaniards,  destroyed  roads  and  bridges,  and 
attempted  to  defend  themselves  in  the  fastnesses 
of  the  mountains.  They  were,  however,  driven 
out  by  a  force  of  four  hundred  men  sent  against 
them.  Having  been  defeated,  some  were  killed 
on  the  spot,  and  others  suffered  the  extreme 
penalty  in  Lima. 

During  the  middle  decades  of  the  century,  the 
viceregal  authority  in  Peru  was  exercised  by 
Armendariz,  the  Marquis  of  Castel-Fuerte  (1724- 
1736),  Mendoza,  the  Marquis  of  Villagarcia  (1736- 
1745),  and  Velasco,  the  Count  of  Superunda 
(1746-1761). 


14  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

Juan  and  Ulloa's  report,  the  Noticias  seer  etas, 
presents  a  series  of  contemporary  views  of  Peru's 
internal  condition  at  this  time.  It  emphasizes  the 
frivolity,  the  greed,  and  the  irregular  living  of  at 
least  a  part  of  the  clergj^  It  reveals  the  partisan 
conflicts  that  disturbed  the  monasteries  and  the 
convents,  particularly  on  the  occasion  of  elections. 
It  sets  forth  the  merciless  exactions  of  the  cor- 
regidores  as  the  sole  traders  within  their  respec- 
tive districts;  makes  clear  the  oppression  and 
cruelty  suffered  by  the  laborers  i^  the  manufac- 
turing establishments;  and  indicates  some  of  the 
burdens  borne  by  the  Indians  under  the  system  of 
the  mita.  In  this  period  occurred,  moreover,  the 
expeditions  and  assaults  of  Anson  and  Vernon. 

II 

^'  In  the  province  of  Paraguay,  the  career  of 
Antequera  had  left  a  legacy  of  rebellion  and 
anarchy.  Nevertheless,  a  few  weeks  after  Ante- 
quera's  departure.  Bishop  Palos  wrote  to  the  king 
concerning  the  insurrection,  and  informed  him 
that  the  province  had  been  pacificed  "without 
bloodshed  by  the  prudent  conduct  of  the  governor 
of  Rio  de  la  Plata,  Don  Bruno  Maurice  de  Zabala, 
who  in  obedience  to  the  pressing  orders  of  Joseph 
Armendariz,  the  Marquis  of  Castel-Fuerte,  your 
viceroy,  came  here  with  sufficient  force  for  that 
purpose."^    But  the  peace  announced  by  Bishop 

1  Charlevoix,  Pierre  Francois  Xavier  de,  The  History  of  Para- 
guay, London,  1769,  II,  220. 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      15 

Palos  ''was  no  more  than  a  deceitful  calm;  which 
was  soon  followed  by  a  storm  a  great  deal  more 
furious  than  that  which  had  been  allayed. ' "  The 
supporters  of  the  revolutionary  movement  wished 
to  transfer  the  Indians  of  the  reductions  from 
ecclesiastical  to  secular  authority,  from  the  Jes- 
uits to  encomenderos.  In  1729  the  viceroy  of 
Peru  sent  Martin  de  Bariia  to  Paraguay  with  a 
special  commission  to  pacify  the  province.  At 
the  same  time  Bartolome  de  Aldunate  was  ordered 
to  proceed  to  Paraguay,  but  affairs  in  Buenos 
Aires,  where  he  was  a  captain  of  infantry,  re- 
quired his  presence  in  that  city,  and  the  govern- 
ment of  Paraguay  remained  in  the  hands  of 
Bariia.  But  Barua  failed  to  execute  the  viceroy's 
orders.  This  fact  and  the  partisan  support 
accorded  to  him  by  the  insurgents  indicated  that 
he  had  departed  widely  from  the  purpose  of  his 
mission.  The  insurgents,  or  comuneros,  wished  to 
make  the  wealth  of  the  reductions,  or  missions, 
available  to  persons  not  belonging  to  the  Society 
of  Jesus.  With  this  end  in  view,  it  was  proposed 
that  Spanish  corregidores  and  regidores  should 
be  established  in  all  of  the  reductions,  where,  it 
was  affirmed,  there  were  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  Indians  who  paid  no  tribute  to  the  king. 
It  was  proposed,  moreover,  that  there  should  be 
maintained  in  Asuncion  an  office  where  the  tribute 
to  be  paid  by  the  Indians  might  be  received. 
These  propositions  having  been  considered  by  the 
Council  of  the  Indies,  a  royal  decree  was  sent  to 

2  Charlevoix,  History  of  Paraguay,  II,  222. 


16  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

the  governors  of  Paraguay  and  Rio  de  la  Plata, 
ordering  them  to  collect  the  imposts  and  tribute 
payable  by  the  Indians  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  in  force  throughout  the  kingdom  of  Peru. 
They  were  also  ordered  to  inquire  into  the  reasons 
why  this  had  not  been  done  before;  and  they 
should  report  to  the  viceroy.  But  when  these 
decrees  arrived  at  Buenos  Aires  events  had 
occurred  in  Paraguay  that  made  their  execution 
impracticable.^ 

The  comuneros  had  usurped  the  governmental 
power  in  Asuncion,  and  excluded  the  legitimate 
authorities.  In  July,  1730,  Ferdinand  Mompo,  or 
Mompox,  arrived  at  Asuncion.  He  was  born  in 
the  kingdom  of  Valencia ;  he  had  practised  law  in 
Lima ;  had  been  confined  for  a  period  in  the  prison 
of  the  inquisition;  had  acquired  by  association 
somewhat  of  Antequera's  spirit;  and  in  virtue  of 
this  association  he  was  received  with  special  favor 
in  Paraguay.  He  was  given  a  seat  in  the  cabildo, 
and  was  consulted  on  all  important  matters  by 
the  comuneros.  When  it  had  become  known  that 
Soroeta  had  been  appointed  governor  of  Para- 
guay, Mompo  sent  to  the  viceroy  a  memorial 
framed  in  the  name  of  the  commune,  setting  forth 
the  grave  inconveniences  and  disturbances  that 
would  result  from  Soroeta 's  appearance  in  Asun- 
cion. Mompo  urged,  moreover,  that  as  Soroeta 
was  a  partisan  of  the  Jesuits  and  a  friend  of 
Diego  de  los  Reyes,  he  ought  not  to  be  permitted 

3  Zinny,  Antonio,  Hisiori-a  de   los  goiernantes  del  Paraguay, 
1535-1887.     Buenos  Aires,  1887,  165. 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      17 

to  enter  the  province,  and  that  Barua  should  con- 
tinue to  he  the  governor.  A  copy  of  this  memorial 
was  sent  to  Santa  Fe  by  a  messenger,  who  placed 
it  in  the  hands  of  Soroeta.  The  messenger  was 
instructed  not  to  wait  for  a  reply.  But  in  spite 
of  the  warning  contained  in  this  memorial,  Soro- 
eta determined  to  continue  his  journey  to  Asun- 
cion. This  act  of  defiance  made  definite  the 
breach  between  the  commune  and  the  legitimate 
government,  and  created  a  revolutionary  inter- 
regum,  lasting  from  1730  until  the  arrival  of 
Governor  Manuel  Augustin  de  Ruiloba  y  Calderon 
in  July,  1733.  During  these  three  years,  the  party 
known  as  the  comuneros  dominated  the  affairs  of 
Paraguay. 

When  Governor  Ignacio  Soroeta  arrived  at 
the  Tebicuary,  he  halted  to  await  replies  to  the 
communications  previously  sent  to  Barua,  to  the 
bishop,  and  to  the  cabildo.  The  bishop  advised 
him  to  postpone  his  advance  in  view  of  the  em- 
barrassment and  danger  that  would  arise  from 
his  presence  in  Asuncion.  Bariia  presented  cer- 
tain documents  concerning  the  state  of  aff'airs, 
one  of  these  documents  affirming  that,  during  the 
absence  of  the  Jesuits  from  the  college,  peace  and 
order  had  prevailed,  but  that  disturbance  and 
sedition  had  followed  their  return.  The  cabildo 
expressed  its  determination  to  obey  the  orders  of 
the  king ;  but  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  words 
of  the  cabildo  rather  than  its  acts  were  favorable 
to  peace  and  harmony.    After  further  correspon- 


18  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

dence,  relating  in  part  to  a  safe-conduct  demanded 
by  Soroeta,  a  force  of  four  hundred  soldiers 
appeared  at  the  Tebicuary  on  the  17th  of  January, 
1731,  under  the  pretext  of  furnishing  the  safe- 
conduct  required,  but  in  reality  to  escort  Soroeta 
to  Asuncion  as  a  prisoner.  As  Soroeta  ap- 
proached the  city,  he  found  that  his  escort  had 
been  increased  by  fifteen  hundred  persons  of  all 
classes  and  conditions,  not  merely  Spaniards,  but 
also  negroes,  mulattos,  mestizos,  and  Indians. 
This  demonstration  was  evidently  designed  to 
terrify  Soroeta,  but  no  such  result  was  observ- 
able: he  proceeded,  without  apparent  anxiety,  to 
the  cathedral,  where  he  was  received  by  the  bishop 
and  other  members  of  the  clergy.  The  pretense 
of  loyalty  displayed  by  Bariia  and  the  cabildo  was 
a  mere  sham.  When  Soroeta  went  to  visit  Bariia, 
he  was  attended  by  a  squad  of  eight  or  ten  sol- 
diers, who  entered  the  reception  room  and  caused 
the  governor  great  embarrassment  by  participat- 
ing in  the  conversation.  During  the  four  days 
and  a  half  which  Soroeta  spent  in  the  city,  he  was 
virtually  a  prisoner  in  his  own  house.  He  left 
Asuncion  on  the  28th  of  January,  accompanied  by 
the  second  alcalde  and  a  regidor  as  far  as  the 
river  Tebicuary,  whence  he  passed  to  Nuestra 
Senora  de  Fe,  and  then  to  Lima  by  way  of  Chile. 
Although  apparently  in  full  sympathy  with 
the  revolutionary  party,  Bariia  appeared  to  be 
reluctant  to  exercise  the  gubernatorial  power 
beyond  the  legal  term  of  his  office ;  and  after  the 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      19 

departure  of  Soroeta,  the  civil  government  of 
Paraguay  was  directed  by  the  cabildo  of  Asuncion, 
while  the  military  affairs  were  controlled  by  the 
maestro  de  campo  appointed  by  the  commune.* 

The  comuneros,  who  had  been  more  or  less 
guided  by  the  advice  of  Mompo,  finally  discovered 
in  him  the  evil  genius  of  their  confusion,  and  saw 
the  need  of  an  efficient  organization.  They  deter- 
mined to  elect  a  president,  and  the  choice  fell  on 
the  alcalde  Barreiro,  who  was  regarded  as  the 
chief  of  the  radicals.  But  they  had  later  to  aban- 
don their  mistaken  view.  Barreiro 's  first  impor- 
tant service  was  to  rid  the  province  of  Mompo. 
By  the  ruse  of  a  journey  to  Yaguaron,  he  con- 
ducted him  to  the  Tebicuary  where  he  was  ar- 
rested and  sent  to  Buenos  Aires.  This  act,  appar- 
ently in  the  royal  service,  provoked  a  conspiracy 
against  Barreiro.  This  had  an  unfavorable  out- 
come for  the  chief  conspirators,  Bartolome  Galan 
and  Miguel  de  Garay,  on  whom  Barreiro  caused 
the  sentence  of  death  to  be  pronounced.  In  the 
bitter  partisan  conflict  that  ensued,  Barreiro 
raised  the  standard  of  the  king,  but  this  act 
elecited  only  a  limited  response  of  loyalty,  and 
Barreiro 's  cause  was  lost.  He  fled  to  the  mis- 
sions, and  Miguel  de  Garay  took  his  place.  Fear- 
ing that  the  newly  awakened  hostilities  in  Asun- 

*  Eegarding  the  conduct  of  this  government,  Lozano  remarked : 
"Lo  que  en  este  celebre  gobierno  paso  solo  Dios  lo  sabe  todo, 
porque  era  tal  el  desconcierto  que  ni  aun  los  mismos  oficiales  se 
hacien  capaces  de  todo  lo  que  sucedia. ' '  Historia  de  las  revolu- 
ciones  de  la  provincia  de  Paraguay,  (1721-1735),  Buenos  Aires, 
1905,  ii,  54. 


20  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

cion  might  be  directed  against  them,  the  Indians 
of  the  missions  were  assembled  for  defense  at  the 
Tebicuary.  This  act  in  turn  alarmed  the  comun- 
eros,  in  whose  eyes  the  four  thousand  mission 
Indians  were  magnified  to  a  force  of  ten  thousand 
men.  In  giving  expression  to  their  fear  the 
comuneros  spread  the  report  that  the  Indians 
were  about  to  invade  Asuncion  and  put  the  inhab- 
itants to  the  sword. 

In  the  meantime  Antequera,  the  former  leader 
of  the  rebellion,  was  a  prisoner  in  Lima.  His 
execution  and  that  of  Juan  de  Mena,  after  an  im- 
prisonment of  five  years,  helped  to  inflame  rather 
than  to  allay  the  passions  of  the  opposing  parties. 
The  daughter  of  Mena,  now  the  widow  of  Ramon 
de  las  Lianas,  changed  her  mourning  costume  for 
gala  dress  on  hearing  of  the  death  of  her  father, 
thus  making  public  proclamation  of  her  view  that 
he  had  died  gloriously  for  the  country.  The  mem- 
ory of  Antequera  and  Mena,  in  the  following 
months,  excited  the  comuneros  to  new  zeal,  and 
revived  their  hostility  to  the  Jesuits.  The  aroused 
partisans  of  Antequera 's  views  proposed  new 
crimes  in  the  name  of  the  public  weal :  in  Febru- 
ary, 1732,  they  expelled  the  Jesuits  from  their 
college  and  plundered  their  property. 

The  details  of  the  social  confusion  following 
these  events  reveal  a  society  in  process  of  dis- 
solution. The  Jesuits  of  the  missions  feared  an 
irruption  of  the  comuneros,  and  prepared  for 
defense.      The    comuneros,    on    the    other   hand, 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      21 

fancied  that  the  missions  in  their  activity  were, 
in  fact,  preparing  for  conquest.  There  was  no 
authority  in  Paraguay  commanding  general  re- 
spect or  obedience ;  and  that  security  of  property 
which  encourages  production  and  economy  was 
wanting.  To  political  confusion  was  added  in- 
creasing poverty. 

In  order  to  put  an  end  to  hostilities,  Governor 
Zabala  called  a  council  of  war  in  Buenos  Aires. 
The  result  of  its  deliberations  was  an  order  to  the 
commandant  of  Corrientes  to  take  a  force  of  two 
hundred  men  and  join  the  troops  stationed  on  the 
Tebicuary.  But  the  missions  were  not  in  im- 
mediate danger  of  invasion.  The  king  and  the 
Council  of  the  Indies  were  apparently  convinced 
that  the  Paraguayans  were  not  competent  to 
work  out  their  social  salvation  independently. 
Therefore,  in  order  to  make  peace  and  restore  the 
province  to  a  normal  state,  they  intrusted  the 
government  to  Manual  Agustin  Ruiloba.  The 
viceroy  recognized  the  difficulty  of  the  undertak- 
ing, and  urged  Governor  Zabala  and  the  provin- 
cial of  the  Jesuits  to  give  Ruiloba  all  possible 
assistance.  The  arrival  at  Asuncion  of  Bishop 
Arregui  and  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops  en- 
camped on  the  Tebicuary  seemed  for  the  moment 
to  promise  peace;  but  discord  and  the  spirit  of 
contention  were  too  profoundly  rooted  in  the 
community  to  yield  to  any  other  remedy  than 
force.  This  fact  was  clearly  recognized  by  Gov- 
ernor Ruiloba ;  for,  on  arriving  at  San  Ignacio  in 


22  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

1733,  he  ordered  the  large  bodies  of  Indian  troops 
to  maintain  their  position,  and  he  provided  that 
all  other  men  capable  of  bearing  arms  should  be 
enlisted.  The  policy  of  waiting  for  the  evils  to 
cure  themselves  had  apparently  come  to  an  end; 
and  in  contemplating  the  new  policy,  the  comu- 
neros  experienced  a  sudden  conversion.  When 
Kuiloba  had  reached  the  Tebicuary,  deputies  from 
Asuncion  appeared,  conveying  to  him  the  con- 
gratulations of  the  cabildo  and  General  Sebastian 
Fernandez  Mantiel,  who  assured  him  of  their 
determination  to  obey  the  orders  of  the  king. 

Ruiloba  's  favorable  beginning  was  followed  by 
less  fortunate  conduct.  His  severe  and  uncom- 
promising attitude  was  effective  in  silencing  the 
old  opposition,  but  a  new  opposition  was  aroused 
by  his  indiscreet  utterances  after  his  arrival  in 
Asuncion,  and  by  replacing  important  officials 
with  persons  in  his  confidence.  He,  moreover, 
described  as  rebellious  and  criminal  acts  held  by 
the  actors  to  be  patriotic.  The  comuneros  were 
thus  brought  to  face  the  alternatives  of  humiliat- 
ing subserviency  and  a  new  uprising.  They  chose 
the  latter.  And  when  the  governor  was  informed 
of  this  movement,  he  proceeded  to  suppress  it 
with  the  limited  military  force  at  his  command,  a 
force  especially  limited  at  this  time  by  reason 
of  the  large  number  of  soldiers  who  had  deserted 
to  the  ranks  of  the  commune.  At  this  stage,  when 
an  active  conflict  appeared  to  be  imminent.  Bishop 
Arregui  assumed  the  role  of  mediator.    Governor 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      23 

Ruiloba  was,  however,  not  in  a  mood  to  make 
concessions,  and  when  the  comuneros  discovered 
his  position  in  this  regard,  they  attacked  him, 
dragged  him  from  his  horse,  and  made  him  pay 
the  penalty  of  his  stubbornness  with  his  life 
(September  15,  1733). 

The  removal  of  Governor  Ruiloba  left  the 
community  without  a  controlling  authority,  and 
then  followed  the  evils  and  crimes  incident  to  a 
headless  society.  In  this  state  of  affairs,  Arregui 
was  elected  governor,  and  a  council  was  created. 
Arregui  had  been  appointed  bishop  of  Buenos 
Aires,  and  as  a  bishop  clothed  with  the  executive 
power  in  Paraguay,  he  found  himself  approving, 
at  least  formally,  measures  entirely  inconsistent 
with  his  character  as  the  religious  and  moral 
guide  of  a  community.  In  his  name  as  governor, 
property  was  confiscated,  and  many  innocent 
persons  were  thrown  into  hopeless  poverty.  An- 
tagonism to  the  Jesuits  prompted  the  council  to 
formulate  two  orders  respecting  them  for  the 
approval  of  the  governor.  One  was  that  they 
should  remove  all  their  property  from  the  prov- 
ince. The  other  was  that  the  seven  pueblos,  or 
reductions,  San  Ignacio  Guazu,  Nuestra  Senora 
de  Fe,  Santa  Rosa,  Santiago,  Itapua,  La  Trinidad, 
and  Jesus,  should  be  removed  beyond  the  Parana, 
leaving  free  the  lands  they  had  occupied  in  Para- 
guay. 

The  bishop-governor  signed  these  orders;  but 
he  began  to  appreciate  the  absurdity  of  his  posi- 


24  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

tioii,  particularly  after  Bishop  Palos  of  Paraguay 
and  the  provincial  of  the  Jesuits  had  labored  to 
enlighten  him.  He  saw  that  he  had  been  the  tool 
of  a  reckless  community.  He  also  became  con- 
scious of  the  necessity  of  renouncing  the  part  he 
had  played  in  its  proceedings.  Believing  that 
there  would  be  opposition  to  his  retirement,  he 
made  it  appear  that  his  presence  in  Buenos  Aires 
was  required,  and,  leaving  in  his  place  Cristoval 
Dominguez  de  Obelar,  he  departed  for  Buenos 
Aires  in  December,  1733,  followed  a  little  later  by 
Bishop  Palos. 

The  measures  projected  against  the  property 
of  the  Jesuits  and  the  missions  induced  Governor 
Zabala  to  provide  for  their  defense.  He  ordered 
the  Indians  of  military  training  to  guard  their 
frontiers  and  organize  new  forces.  When  the 
viceroy  was  informed  of  the  tragic  death  of  Rui- 
loba,  he  commanded  that  all  communication  with 
Paraguay  should  be  cut  off,  and  that  the  effects 
of  the  Paraguayans  at  Corrientes  and  Santa  Fe 
should  be  confiscated.  Zabala  assumed  command 
of  the  missions,  and  caused  their  military  efficiency 
to  be  increased  by  the  introduction  of  military 
instruction.  He  took  one  hundred  and  fifty  sol- 
diers from  Buenos  Aires,  and,  with  seven  thou- 
sand Indians,  established  his  camp  twelve  or 
fifteen  miles  from  the  Tebicuary,  in  January, 
1735.  The  comuneros,  alarmed  by  the  approach 
of  so  large  a  force,  prepared  to  enlist  for  defense 
all  persons  capable  of  bearing  arms.    Against  the 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      25 

forces  of  the  commune,  that  had  taken  up  a  posi- 
tion near  the  frontier,  Zabala  sent  a  detachment 
of  fifty  veterans,  two  hundred  and  eighteen  Para- 
guayans who  had  joined  him,  and  two  hundred 
Indians  from  the  missions.  These  were  under  the 
command  of  Captain  Martin  Jose  de  Echaurri. 
When  they  arrived  at  the  encampment  of  the 
enemy,  they  found  it  deserted.  Bernardino  Mar- 
tinez led  the  pursuit,  attacked  the  retreating 
troops,  and  took  the  artillery  and  a  large  number 
of  prisoners;  the  rest  fled  in  confusion.  Zabala 
found  many  of  the  leading  insurgents  among  the 
prisoners,  five  of  whom  were  put  to  death,  and 
fifteen  were  sent  into  exile.  The  result  of  this 
conflict  was  nothing  less  than  the  subjugation  of 
the  whole  province  of  Paraguay  to  the  legitimate 
government. 

The  Paraguayans  had  long  enjoyed  the  privi- 
lege of  electing  their  governor  in  case  of  vacancy, 
but  the  exercise  of  this  privilege  disturbed  the 
peace  and  orderly  conduct  of  the  province. 
Zabala  recognized  this  fact,  and  ordered  the 
abolition  of  the  practice.  He,  moreover,  estab- 
lished regulations  designed  to  counteract  the 
tendencies  of  the  revolutionary  spirit.  He  caused 
the  murderers  of  Ruiloba  to  be  executed,  and 
restored  the  confiscated  property  to  its  owner. 
Bishop  Palos,  who  had  fled  to  Buenos  Aires, 
learned  with  satisfaction  of  the  extermination  of 
''the  wolves  that  had  destroyed  his  flock, "^  and 

5  Funes,  Gregorio,  Eiisayo  de  la  historia  civil  de  Buenos  Aires, 
Tucummi  y  Paraguay,  Buenos  Aires,  1856,  II,  37. 


26  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

returned  to  Asuncion,  where  the  Jesuits  were 
reinstated  in  their  college,  and  order  and  the 
reign  of  law  was  once  more  established.  For  the 
reconstructed  province,  Martin  Jose  de  Echaurri 
was  appointed  governor,  and,  with  his  mission 
accomplished,  Zabala  departed  for  Buenos  Aires 
in  1735. 

Although  order  was  restored  in  Paraguay, 
the  hostility  of  the  parties  was  not  abated.  The 
surviving  antagonism  was  especially  manifest  in 
charges  against  the  Jesuits,  designed  to  discredit 
them  and  their  work  in  the  mind  of  the  king.  The 
province,  long  distracted  by  internal  conflicts  and 
confusion,  was  now  tormented  by  repeated  incur- 
sions of  the  barbarous  Indians.  With  all  these 
afflictions,  it  lost  its  prestige.  The  controversy 
between  Spain  and  Portugal  concerning  the 
boundary;  the  war  of  the  seven  reductions;  and 
the  final  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  maintained  the 
notoriety  of  Paraguay  for  a  period;  but  it  then 
lapsed  into  obscurity  for  half  a  century. 

Ill 

During  the  period  of  internal  disorder  in 
Paraguay,  Uruguay  was  the  scene  of  an  inter- 
national contest.  The  Portuguese  held  a  large 
part  of  the  coast;  they  were  gradually  pressing 
down  from  the  north;  and  they  appeared  to  be 
firmly  established  in  possession  of  Colonia.  Two 
circumstances  had  rendered  them  bold  and  aggres- 
sive: one  was  the  weakness  and  demoralization 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      27 

of  Spain  under  Charles  II;  the  other  was  the 
attitude  of  England  as  the  protector  of  Portugal's 
commercial  and  maritime  interests.  With  a  sense 
of  security  thus  established,  they  persisted  in 
advancing  their  boundary  and  in  increasing  their 
contraband  trade.  They  were  moved  to  this  latter 
undertaking  by  the  high  prices  in  the  Spanish 
colonies  caused  by  Spain's  restrictive  commercial 
policy. 

Other  European  nations,  England,  France, 
and  Holland,  found  an  advantage  for  themselves 
in  Portugal's  position,  since  Colonia  furnished 
them  a  place  of  secure  deposit  for  their  wares, 
and  a  base  for  contraband  trade  with  Spanish 
colonial  markets.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
Portuguese  court  supported  this  encroachment 
and  settlement  on  territory  claimed  by  Spain,  the 
governor  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  had  little  hope  of 
maintaining  his  rights  by  negotiation,  and  conse- 
quently resorted  to  force.  He  captured  the 
Portuguese  commander,  Lobo,  and  all  his  garri- 
son, caused  the  fortifications  of  Colonia  to  be 
destroyed,  and  transported  the  prisoners  with 
their  arms  and  artillery  to  Buenos  Aires.  But  the 
protests  of  Portugal,  supported  by  England  and 
France,  cowed  the  government  of  Spain.  In  spite 
of  the  energy  displayed  in  maintaining  the  rights 
of  Spain,  Governor  Gorro  was  recalled,  and 
appointed  governor  of  Chile.  But  before  entering 
upon  the  duties  of  his  new  office,  Gorro  was 
obliged  to  suffer  the  humiliation  of  being  detained 
in  Cordova  at  the  request  of  the  Portuguese  gov- 


28  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

ernment;  and  Spain,  wishing  to  avoid  further 
conflict,  entered  into  a  treaty  with  Portugal.  This 
treaty  not  only  annulled  all  the  advantages  that 
might  have  been  derived  from  the  taking  of 
Colonia,  but  also  obliged  Spain  to  restore  that 
settlement  to  Portugal.  This  was  for  Spain  an 
unpropitious  beginning  of  a  long  controversy. 

By  the  treaty  of  1701,  Colonia  was  formally 
ceded  to  Portugal,  but  in  the  war  of  the  Spanish 
succession,  Portugal  took  the  side  of  England 
against  France  and  Spain,  and,  for  this  reason, 
the  viceroy  of  Peru,  then  holding  jurisdiction  over 
the  whole  of  Spanish  South  America,  assumed 
that  he  was  not  bound  by  the  treaty,  and  ordered 
the  governor  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  to  mobilize  his 
forces  and  take  possession  of  the  post.  Under  the 
command  of  Captain  Garcia  Ros,  the  Spanish 
forces  laid  seige  to  Colonia  on  October  17,  1704, 
and  the  members  of  the  Portuguese  garrison,  find- 
ing they  were  unable  to  withstand  the  attacking 
party,  took  to  their  boats  and  fled.  The  artillery 
and  the  munitions  of  war  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  victors. 

Philip  V  had  very  little  knowledge  of  America 
and  apparently  no  appreciation  of  the  importance 
of  Colonia.  When,  therefore,  the  British,  still 
having  in  mind  the  commercial  opportunities 
which  the  possession  of  the  place  offered,  urged 
that,  in  spite  of  the  Spanish  victory,  it  should  be 
given  up  to  the  Portuguese,  the  king  of  Spain 
assented,  and  this  cession  was  confirmed  by  the 
treaty  of  Utrecht.    The  sixth  article  of  this  treaty 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      29 

provided,  "That  His  Catholic  Majesty  ceded  for- 
ever and  in  perpetuity  the  Plaza  de  la  Colonia 
with  the  territory  necessary  for  its  defense  and 
security,  to  His  Majesty  the  king  of  Portugal  and 
to  his  successors  by  whatever  line  and  right  they 
might  come  to  occupy  the  throne,  without  this  ces- 
sion in  any  case  and  for  any  reason  being  able 
to  be  invalidated. ' ' 

IV 

The  advance  of  the  Portuguese  and  their  evi- 
dent determination  to  establish  themselves  at  a 
point  commanding  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  la 
Plata  induced  the  Spaniards  to  endeavor  to  pre- 
vent this  by  seeking  to  increase  the  population  of 
Montevideo.  This  little  village  already  contained 
a  number  of  families  who  had  arrived  from  the 
Canaries  in  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. Special  inducements  were  now  offered  to 
persons  who  would  settle  there.  Among  other 
advantages  they  would  have  free  transportation 
thither  for  themselves  and  their  families.  Lots 
in  the  town  and  land  for  cultivation  would  be 
granted  to  them.  Each  settler  would  receive  two 
hundred  head  of  cattle  and  one  hundred  sheep,  a 
quantity  of  grain  for  seed,  and  certain  articles 
of  food  for  the  first  year.*^    It  was  provided  by  the 

6  Bauza,  Francisco,  Historia  de  la  dominacion  espanola  en  el 
Uruguay,  Montevideo,  1895,  I,  483;  Mitre,  Historia  de  Belgrano, 
I,  47;  Zinny,  Antonio,  Historia  de  los  gohernadores  de  las  provin- 
das  argentinas  desde  1810  hasta  la  feoha,  Buenos  Aires,  1879,  I 
XXXII;  De-Maria,  Isidoro,  Historia  de  la  republica  O.  del  Uru- 
guay, Montevideo,  1895,  I,  75-87. 


30  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

cabildo  that  the  holders  of  lands  destined  for  cul- 
tivation should  pay  into  the  treasury  a  specified 
sum  annually.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
Contribucion  imohiliaria,  or  the  land  tax,  in  that 
region. 

Under  these  incentives  a  few  families  removed 
from  Buenos  Aires  to  Montevideo,  but  too  few  to 
satisfy  the  wishes  and  plans  of  Governor  Zabala 
(1726-1734).  In  a  letter  to  Philip  V,  January  6, 
1727,  he  announced  that  he  had  distributed  lands 
and  implements  to  the  settlers  at  Montevideo, 
and  on  the  15th  of  July,  1728,  the  king  replied, 
expressing  his  approval  of  the  governor's  acts. 
The  population  grew  slowly,  and  during  the  fol- 
lowing year  the  ceremonies  were  held  in  which 
Montevideo  was  officially  declared  to  be  a  city. 
A  cabildo,  or  council,  was  created  for  its  govern- 
ment, and  on  the  1st  of  January,  1730,  Zabala 
appointed  the  members  of  the  cabildo,  who,  hav- 
ing taken  the  required  oath,  were  installed  in  their 
office. 

From  the  beginning,  conflicts  between  the  civil 
and  military  authorities  disturbed  the  peace  of 
Montevideo.  The  officers  of  the  garrison  repre- 
sented the  absolutism  of  Spanish  rule,  while  the 
members  of  the  cabildo,  although  appointed  by 
the  governor,  stood  for  the  settlers  and  repre- 
sented their  aspiration  for  local  liberty.  When 
the  members  of  the  superior  Spanish  government 
learned  that  Montevideo  showed  signs  of  pros- 
perity, they  were  solicitous  lest  foreign  commerce 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      31 

might  derive  advantage  from  it,  and  in  April, 
1730,  issued  orders  that  great  zeal  and  care  should 
be  exercised  to  prevent  illicit  exportation  or  im- 
portation, or  any  violation  of  rules  respecting  the 
royal  treasury. 

The  strict  execution  of  these  orders  deprived 
the  inhabitants  of  Montevideo  of  their  expected 
advantage.  The  Portuguese  were  gradually  ap- 
propriating the  resources  of  the  country,  and  by 
these  restrictions  the  Spaniards  were  prevented 
from  even  sharing  in  the  prosperity  of  their 
neighbors.  Colonia,  under  the  command  of  Pedro 
Antonio  de  Vasconcellos,  had  become  an  impor- 
tant center  of  an  increasing  contraband  commerce. 
In  its  population  there  were  twenty-six  hundred 
adults.  These  included  a  garrison  of  about  nine 
hundred  men,  which,  with  its  eighty  guns  mounted 
on  the  walls,  seemed  to  furnish  an  adequate 
defense. 

The  inhabitants  of  Montevideo  were  embar- 
rassed not  only  by  the  restrictions  of  the  Spanish 
government  and  by  the  encroachments  of  the 
Portuguese,  but  also  by  the  hostility  of  the  In- 
dians. This  was  provoked,  as  had  often  been  the 
case  elsewhere,  by  the  aggression  of  Europeans. 
The  result  of  the  campaign  against  the  Indians 
was  for  the  Spaniards  a  disaster.  The  little  town 
lost  a  large  part  of  the  men  fit  for  military  ser- 
vice. In  the  midst  of  these  difficulties,  Miguel  de 
Salcedo  succeeded  Zabala  as  governor,  in  1734, 
bringing  to  the  government  of  the  province  only 


32  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

mediocre  ability,  whether  in  the  field  of  civil 
administration  or  military  affairs.  But  under 
specific  orders  from  the  Spanish  government,  he 
gathered  a  force  for  the  purpose  of  besieging 
Colonia.  This  force  consisted  of  four  thousand 
Indians  from  the  missions,  one  thousand  men 
from  Buenos  Aires,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men  from  Corrientes.  It  was  supported  by  the 
frigates  Armie^ia  and  San  Esteban,  sent  from 
Spain  with  two  hundred  dragoons,  and  other 
vessels  with  munitions  and  a  company  of  one 
hundred  infantry.  After  a  year  of  fruitless  war, 
carried  on  with  indifferent  energy,  France,  Eng- 
land, and  Holland,  as  mediating  powers,  inter- 
vened near  the  end  of  1737,  and  at  Paris  adjusted 
terms  of  an  armistice. 

Zabala,  leaving  the  governorship  of  Rio  de  la 
Plata  to  Miguel  de  Salcedo  (1734-1742),  was 
promoted  to  the  presidency  of  Chile,  but  before 
assuming  the  duties  of  his  new  office,  he  was 
directed,  as  we  have  seen,  to  intervene  in  the 
affairs  of  Paraguay.  Having  restored  order  in 
Asuncion,  he  embarked  for  Buenos  Aires,  but 
died  before  he  reached  Santa  Fe.  His  claim  to 
distinction  among  the  governors  of  Rio  de  la 
Plata  rests  on  efforts  to  stem  the  encroachments 
of  the  Portuguese;  on  his  work  in  founding  the 
city  of  Montevideo;  on  pacifying  Paraguay;  and, 
in  general,  on  the  energy  and  wisdom  displayed 
in  his  administration. 

Montevideo  had  been  designated  a  city,  but 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      33 

it  had  acquired  at  this  time  few  of  a  city's  char- 
acteristics. The  fort  as  described  by  Colonel 
Domingo  Santo  de  Uriarte,  the  commandant,  was 
a  fort  only  in  name.  Its  wall  was  about  a  yard 
and  a  half  high,  built  of  stone  without  mortar  or 
cement ;  it  had  no  moat,  and  was  in  a  place  where 
it  would  protect  neither  the  city  nor  the  harbor.^ 
The  Portuguese  improved  the  opportunity 
offered  by  the  armistice  of  Paris  to  strengthen  the 
fortifications  of  Colonia,  and  to  occupy  additional 
territory.  But  in  the  presence  of  these  advances 
and  preparations  for  future  resistance  Governor 
Salcedo  limited  his  activity  to  laying  formal  siege 
to  Colonia  and  guarding  the  coast  to  prevent  con- 
traband trade.  During  his  administration,  more- 
over, the  cabildo  of  Montevideo  had  to  contend 
with  three  enemies.  These  were  the  Indians,  the 
Portuguese,  and  the  military  authorities.  The 
evils  arising  from  these  sources  were  fostered  by 
the  weakness,  the  indolence,  and  the  stupidity  of 
Salcedo,  who  was  finally  arrested  and  removed 
from  office  in  1742,  when  Domingo  Ortiz  de  Rosas 
(1742-1745)  became  his  successor.  Taking  advan- 
tage of  this  change,  the  cabildo  petitioned  that  the 
limits  of  jurisdiction  between  the  civil  and  the 
military  authorities  might  be  fixed,  and  that  for- 
eigners might  be  expelled  from  the  city.  To  this 
petition  the  governor  replied  that  the  instructions 
of  Zabala  should  be  maintained,  which  conferred 
the  ordinary  jurisdiction  in  the  first  instance  on 

7  See  Bauza,  Dominacion  espanola  en  Uruguay,  II,  32. 


y 


34  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

the  alcaldes,  with  an  appeal  to  the  governor,  and 
that  the  commandant  of  the  garrison  should  not 
interfere.  In  replying  to  the  second  point  of  the 
petition,  the  governor  repeated  an  order  for  the 
expulsion  of  foreigners  from  the  city.  Rosas' 
brief  administration  was  followed  by  that  of  Jose 
de  Andonaegui  (1745-1756). 

In  the  interior  of  the  continent,  the  affairs  of 
the  Spaniards  were  no  more  satisfactory  than  in 
Montevideo  and  the  adjacent  lands.  Wanting  the 
increasing  trade  of  the  ports,  whether  legitimate 
or  contraband,  the  province  of  Tucuman  failed  to 
attain  even  the  slow  progress  of  Buenos  Aires. 
The  overland  communication  between  Buenos 
Aires  and  Lima  and  the  traffic  in  mules  with  Peru 
were  the  only  channels  for  receiving  information 
respecting  the  outside  world.  Cordova,  having 
become  the  educational,  ecclesiastical,  and  politi- 
cal capital,  alone  furnished  an  exception  to  the 
general  monotony  and  stagnation  of  the  province. 
Decade  had  succeeded  decade  with  nothing  to 
relieve  the  dull  uniformity  of  existence ;  even  the 
incursions  of  the  Indians  and  the  repeated  cam- 
paign against  them  were  monotonous. 


In  Chile  the  age  of  exploration,  conquest,  and 
settlement  had  been  succeeded  by  monotonous 
years  marked  by  cultivation  of  the  soil  and  the 
beginnings  of  a  few  primitive  industries.     Cano 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      35 

de  Aponte  entered  upon  the  fifteenth  year  of  his 
administration  as  governor  of  Chile  in  1730.  He 
had  been  appointed  to  this  office  by  Philip  V, 
October  31,  1715.  He  was  at  this  time  fifty  years 
of  age,  and  had  been  for  thirty-three  years  in  the 
military  service  of  Spain.  In  this  service  he  had 
acquired  somewhat  of  the  recklessness  and  the 
spirit  of  adventure  that  characterized  the  soldiers 
of  his  time.  At  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Spanish 
succession,  he  had  attained  the  rank  of  field- 
marshal.  Near  the  end  of  1717  he  arrived  at  San- 
tiago, having  made  the  journey  from  Spain  by 
way  of  Buenos  Aires  and  Mendoza.  He  was 
accompanied  by  his  nephew,  Manuel  de  Sala- 
manca, who,  by  favor  of  his  uncle  was  advanced 
in  a  brief  period  from  the  position  of  a  lieutenant 
in  a  cavalry  regiment  to  the  highest  military 
office  under  the  governor  and  captain-general. 
The  rapid  promotion  of  Salamanca  over  officers 
of  longer  service  and  superior  merit  provoked 
discontent;  and  his  irregular  conduct  in  dealing 
with  the  affairs  of  the  army  and  of  the  Indians 
gave  rise  to  scandals  believed  to  involve  the  gov- 
ernor. Cano's  treatment  of  the  Indians  was  not 
conciliatory.  He  proposed  to  remedy  the  lack  of 
laborers  by  drafting  the  Araucanians  into  service, 
in  spite  of  the  prohibition  of  royal  decrees.  His 
agents  treated  them  with  contempt,  Salamanca 
forced  them  to  sell  their  ponchos  to  him  alone, 
and  at  prices  ^ed  by  himself,  thus  depriving 
them  of  their  promised  freedom  in  trading.  These 


36  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

regulations  and  the  order  that  the  Indians  should 
go  to  Concepcion  to  be  employed  under  Spanish 
masters  completed  their  exasperation,  and  led 
them  to  plan  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Spaniards 
from  Chile.  The  Jesuit  missionaries  were  not  as 
blind  to  the  consequences  of  these  acts  as  were  the 
governor  and  Salamanca.  The  superior  of  the 
Chilean  missions  wrote  to  the  bishop  of  Concep- 
cion, warning  him  of  the  tempest  that  was  threat- 
ening, and  adding  that  it  might  still  be  averted 
by  granting  the  Indians  immunity  from  forced 
labor  and  other  abuses.  The  bishop  visited  the 
governor,  and  informed  him  personally  that  an 
uprising  of  the  Indians  was  impending  and  was 
inevitable,  if  they  were  not  given  complete  satis- 
faction. The  governor  was  indignant,  treated  the 
report  as  a  calumny,  and  demanded  the  bishop's 
source  of  information.  The  governor  then  wrote 
to  the  Jesuit  superior  of  the  missions  and  later  to 
the  provincial  of  the  Society.  In  these  communi- 
cations he  showed  his  irritation,  and  declared  as 
exceedingly  impertinent  the  freedom  of  the  mis- 
sionaries in  intervening  in  affairs  that  did  not 
concern  them  and  that  they  did  not  understand. 
The  incursions  of  the  French  traders  and  the 
expeditions  of  Clipperton  and  others  in  the  early 
years  of  the  century  had  shown  the  inability  of 
Spain  to  maintain  her  ancient  commercial  regime. 
The  abundance  of  wares  imported  had  aroused  a 
spirit  of  speculation,  and  even  stimulated  trading 
with  the  Indians,  and  in  this  trading  their  rights 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      37 

were  not  always  scrupulously  regarded.  This  trad- 
ing had  been  facilitated  by  an  armistice,  or  peace, 
with  the  Indians  that  had  been  maintained  during 
the  early  years  of  the  century.  By  their  use  the 
Indians  had  learned  to  appreciate  certain  articles 
offered  them  by  the  Europeans,  particularly 
alcoholic  liquors.  The  active  demand  for  these 
articles  and  their  extensive  consumption  did  not 
contribute  to  the  maintenance  of  peaceful  rela- 
tions between  the  two  peoples.  Another  cause  of 
disorder  and  hostility  appeared  in  the  practice 
of  exploiting  the  ignorance  of  the  Indians  by 
making  exchanges  with  them  to  their  disadvan- 
tage; and  the  gravity  of  the  situation  was  en- 
hanced by  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  the 
persons  engaged  in  trafficing  with  the  Indians 
were  officials,  who  often  proceeded  with  violence 
to  take  from  them  their  cattle  and  even  to  carry 
off  their  children  for  menial  service  or  base  uses. 
These  and  other  abuses,  more  or  less  common 
in  the  relations  of  a  superior  to  a  less  developed 
people,  had  the  inevitable  result  in  discontent  and 
revolt.  A  general  uprising  of  the  Indians  ap- 
peared in  1723,  followed  by  elaborate  military 
preparations  on  the  part  of  the  colonists.  The 
decisive  action  in  the  conflict  was  the  abandon- 
ment by  the  Spaniards  of  the  forts  that  had  been 
established  south  of  the  river  Biobio. 

But  in  the  course  of  events  the  Indians  dis- 
covered that  the  state  of  war  was  attended  by 
inconveniences  not  experienced  in  years  of  truce. 


38  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

They  could  not  exchange  their  cattle  for  articles 
furnished  by  the  colonists.  They  were  subject  to 
hostile  raids  and  the  loss  of  property  without 
compensation.  Both  parties  were  desirous  of 
peace,  but  when  a  treaty  was  finally  concluded, 
in  1726,  with  elaborate  ceremonies,  neither  party 
was  in  a  mood  to  abide  by  it :  the  Indians,  because 
they  were  not  in  a  position  to  comprehend  its  com- 
plicated provisions;  the  Spaniards,  because  they 
were  not  disposed  to  abandon  their  project  to 
extend  their  frontier  towards  the  south. 

In  the  later  years  of  his  service  as  governor, 
Cano  de  Aponte  sought  to  improve  the  conditions 
existing  in  Chile,  where,  in  spite  of  its  excellent 
soil  and  climate,  there  was  little  or  no  progress. 
A  large  part  of  the  inhabitants  were  poor;  there 
were  few  industries;  there  was  a  lack  of  roads; 
and  misery  was  everywhere  evident  in  the  filthy 
cities.  An  effective  hindrance  to  progress  in 
Chile,  in  fact,  to  progress  in  all  of  the  Spanish 
colonies,  was  their  failure  to  use  for  their  own 
welfare  or  advantage  the  funds  raised  by  their 
taxes.  These  were  largely  diverted  from  expendi- 
ture in  the  colonies  to  the  coffers  of  either  corrupt 
officials  or  the  government  in  Spain.  The  troops 
in  Chile  were  demoralized  by  delays  in  payments 
due  them.  The  money  sent  by  the  viceroy  for  this 
purpose  was  sometimes  several  years  overdue. 
That  which  arrived  in  Chile  in  1702  was  for  the 
year  1694;  for  years  later  than  this  the  soldiers 
had  then  not  been  paid. 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      39 

Adding  to  the  general  misfortune,  came  the 
earthquake  of  July  8,  1730.  The  shocks  of  this 
date  were  the  destructive  beginning  of  a  series 
of  shocks  that  continued  many  months.  Churches 
and  other  buildings  were  thrown  down  in  the 
cities  of  central  and  northern  Chile;  but  the  full 
force  of  the  movement  was  experienced  in  the 
south,  in  the  region  of  Concepcion,  Chilian,  Val- 
divia,  and  the  forts  of  the  frontier.  At  Concep- 
cion, then  on  the  coast  at  the  site  of  the  modern 
town  of  Penco,  the  sea  receded  half  a  league  from 
the  shore,  and  returned  with  terrific  fury,  throw- 
ing down  many  structures  that  the  movement  of 
the  earth  had  left  standing.  The  agitation  of  the 
sea  was  observed  as  far  north  as  Callao,  where 
the  water  rose  slowly  over  the  walls  of  the  shore, 
and  as  slowly  retired. 

Besides  the  earthquake,  Chile  was  afflicted  at 
this  time  (1730)  with  an  epidemic  of  smallpox.  It 
began  at  the  capital  and  spread  to  the  country, 
extending  even  to  the  territory  of  the  Indians, 
where  it  caused  greater  destruction  than  in  the 
chief  cities.  The  inhabitants  of  the  towns  fled  to 
the  rural  districts,  but  only  to  encounter  the  dis- 
ease, and  to  die  neglected ;  for  those  who  had  not 
been  attacked  fled  in  terror,  and  abandoned  those 
who  had  fallen  ill.  By  epidemics  like  this  and 
the  lack  of  sanitary  conditions  of  living,  the 
growth  of  the  population  of  Chile  was  materially 
hindered.  In  1740,  the  number  of  the  inhabitants 
was  estimated  to  be  between  one  hundred  and  ten 


40  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

thousand  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand, 
excluding  the  Indians.^ 

After  almost  sixteen  years  as  governor  and 
captain-general  of  Chile,  Cano  de  Aponte  died 
November  11,  1733.  In  accordance  with  a  law  of 
the  Indies,  the  oldest  member  of  the  audiencia, 
Francisco  Sanchez  de  la  Barreda  y  Vera,  was 
charged  with  the  government.  He  had  been  a 
member  of  that  body  for  more  than  twenty  years, 
and  during  this  service  he  had  acquired  much 
knowledge  of  the  country,  but  he  was  '' esteemed 
rather  for  his  moderation  of  character  and  his 
religious  spirit  than  for  his  information  and  his 
intelligence."®  His  rule  was  short,  for  when  the 
viceroy,  the  Marquis  of  Castel-Fuerte,  learned  of 
the  death  of  Cano  de  Aponte,  he  bestowed  the 
office  of  governor  and  captain  general  upon  Man- 
uel de  Salamanca  to  be  held  until  the  arrival  of 
Bruno  Mauricio  de  Zabala.  The  scandals  pro- 
voked by  Salamanca's  transactions  with  Indians 
and  foreigners  were  evidently  not  considered  of 
sufficient  importance  by  the  viceroy  to  deter  him 
from  making  the  appointment,  yet  during  the  two 
years  of  his  administration,  prolonged  on  account 
of  the  death  of  Zabala,  his  rule  became  note- 
worthy for  his  illegitimate  interference  in  the 
trade  of  the  colony  rather  than  for  any  acts 
important  for  the  public  welfare.  These  trans- 
actions   made     an     unfavorable     impression     in 

8  Barros   Arana,   Diego,  Historia  jeneral   de   Chile,   Santiago, 
1886,  VI,  137. 

9  Barros  Arana,  Hist,  de  Chile,  VI,  89. 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      41 

Madrid,  and  when  information  of  Zabala's  death 
reached  the  Court  in  September,  1736,  the  king, 
instead  of  confirming  Salamanca  in  the  office  he 
had  held  temporarily,  appointed  General  Jose 
Antonio  Manso  de  Velasco.  Manso  had  served 
for  thirty-one  years  in  the  army  of  Spain.  He 
sailed  from  Cadiz  February  3,  1737,  and  made  his 
formal  entry  into  the  city  of  Santiago  in  his 
capacity  as  governor  and  captain-general  on  the 
15th  of  November.  The  next  day  he  was  recog- 
nized as  president  of  the  audiencia. 

The  residencia,  or  judicial  examination  of 
Salamanca's  career,  imposed  by  royal  order  upon 
Governor  Manso,  was  held  under  such  conditions 
as  to  convince  the  governor  of  the  entire  in- 
efficiency of  that  form  of  trial.  This  opinion 
might  very  well  have  been  derived  from  reports 
of  similar  trials  in  the  past,  where  the  results  had 
been  determined  by  collusion,  favoritism,  or 
various  other  forms  of  fraud. 

In  the  early  months  of  his  administration, 
moreover,  the  governor  proceeded  to  the  fron- 
tier, and  confirmed  the  peace  that  followed  the 
uprising  of  1723,  by  a  ceremonious  parlamento 
celebrated  with  the  Indians  in  the  early  part  of 
December,  1738. 

In  this  first  half  of  the  century,  Chile  and  Peru 
had  acquired  three  new  markets :  that  of  France, 
made  available  through  contraband  trade;  that 
of  Spain,  liberalized  by  the  provisions  established 
with  reference  to  ships  of  register;  and  the  mar- 


42  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

ket  of  the  eastern  side  of  the  continent,  opened  by 
the  development  of  the  route  between  Buenos 
Aires  and  Chile  by  way  of  the  Andes  and  the 
Argentine  plain.  The  ships  of  register  were  ves- 
sels that  might  sail  to  America  singly,  but  they 
were  required  to  depart  from,  and  return  to,  the 
port  of  Cadiz.  They  were  permitted,  however,  to 
sail  to  any  American  port  where  the  merchants 
wished  to  sell  their  wares.  Through  these  new 
regulations  for  shipping,  Buenos  Aires  became 
in  a  measure  liberated  from  the  narrow  restric- 
tions which  Spain  had  imposed  upon  its  trade. 
Buenos  Aires,  moreover,  became  an  important 
port  for  the  reception  and  distribution  of  goods 
destined  for  transportation  to  Chile  and  Upper 
Peru.  In  connection  with  the  change  in  shipping 
regulations  relating  to  the  Indies,  there  was 
created  at  Madrid  a  Ministry  of  the  Indies  and 
Commerce;  and  the  power  to  grant  licenses  to 
ships  of  register  was  withdrawn  from  the  Casa  de 
Contratacion,  and  referred  to  the  council  of  min- 
isters. This  was  a  breach  in  the  forces  defending 
the  ancient  monopolies,  and  very  naturally  called 
forth  protests  in  Cadiz  and  Lima. 

For  a  number  of  years  Chile  had  had  an  advan- 
tageous trade  with  Peru.  An  important  item  in 
that  trade  was  the  exportation  of  wheat,  after 
the  earthquake  of  1687.  But  in  the  early  decades 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  Peruvian  fields  be- 
came once  more  productive,  and  there  arose  a 
demand  in  Peru  for  protection  against  the  impor- 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      43 

tation  of  Chilean  wheat.  The  production  in  Peru 
was,  however,  insufficient  to  satisfy  the  need  for 
consumption.  The  viceroy  then  proposed  to  tix  a 
maximum  price  at  which  wheat  might  be  sold  in 
the  country.  To  this  the  Chileans  made  an  effec- 
tive protest.  Another  attempt  to  check  the  im- 
portation of  Chilean  wheat  was  to  require  that 
payment  for  importations  should  be  made  with 
Peruvian  products,  and  not  with  money.  By  this 
requirement  Chile  would  be  in  a  large  measure 
deprived  of  a  circulating  medium  of  exchange. 
To  counteract  this  disadvantage,  the  cabildo  of 
Santiago  proposed  that  the  precious  metals  mined 
in  Chile  should  be  coined  in  Chile;  and  in  1732, 
it  was  resolved  to  petition  the  king  to  authorize 
the  establishment  of  a  mint  in  Santiago. 

The  new  markets,  the  new  routes,  and  the 
discontent  caused  by  the  action  of  the  viceroy  led 
to  a  discussion  of  commercial  and  industrial 
questions,  suggesting  the  advantage  of  a  greater 
degree  of  commercial  freedom,  and  making  prom- 
inent and  drawing  public  attention  to,  industrial 
and  commercial  interests.  This  stimulated  an 
opposition  to  traditional  restrictions,  and  caused 
a  complete  break  with  the  ancient  commercial 
regime.  At  the  same  time  the  merchants  of  Chile 
petitioned  for  the  establishment  of  a  consulado 
in  Santiago,  to  facilitate  the  administration  of 
justice  in  commercial  and  industrial  cases,  by 
enabling  them  to  avoid  the  delay  involved  in 
resorting  to  the  consulado  of  Lima.    The  viceroy, 


44  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

Villa  Garcia,  having  been  empowered  by  royal 
order  to  make  the  necessary  rule  in  the  matter, 
determined  that  the  merchants  might  elect  each 
year  one  of  their  number  to  be  their  deputy,  who 
might  pronounce  decisions  in  economic  disputes; 
and  that  these  decisions  might  be  appealed  to  the 
consulado  of  Lima.  This  was  not  a  satisfactory 
solution,  on  account  of  the  delays  that  would  be 
caused  by  the  appeals,  and  of  the  liability  of  new 
issues  arising  in  connection  with  them.  Although 
the  merchants  aspired  to  a  larger  measure  of 
independence  than  was  granted  by  this  legislation, 
still  in  December,  1737,  they  elected  Juan  Fran- 
cisco de  Lorrain  to  be  their  deputy. 

In  spite  of  the  limited  population,  Governor 
Manso  was  engaged,  in  1740,  in  confirming  the 
conquest  of  the  country  by  establishing  towns  in 
different  regions.  Some  of  those  fomided  under 
his  direction  were  Santa  Rosa  de  los  Andes,  San 
Felipe  el  Real,  Los  Angeles,  Cauquenes,  Talca, 
San  Fernando,.  Melipilla,  Rancagua,  Curico,  and 
Copiapo.  In  order  to  raise  funds  to  meet  the 
initial  expenses  of  the  new  towns,  the  king  author- 
ized Governor  Manso  to  sell  six  titles  of  count  or 
marquis.  In  view  of  the  general  poverty  of  the 
country  and  the  fact  that  there  were  then  only 
four  families  in  Chile  possessing  titles,  the  gov- 
ernor did  not  expect  to  be  able  to  increase  the  list, 
and,  therefore,  determined  to  offer  these  titles  for 
sale  in  Lima.  But  it  proved  to  be  unnecessary  to 
carry  out  this  plan;  for  rich  Chilean  merchants 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES     45 

and  the  owners  of  landed  estates  bought  the  titles. 
The  governor  by  this  transaction  collected  the 
sum  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars, 
eighty  thousand  of  which  he  distributed  among 
the  towns,  and  sent  forty  thousand  to  the  king. 
Manso's  refusal  to  retain  any  part  of  this  sum 
for  himself  helped  to  enhance  the  reputation  he 
had  already  acquired  for  honest  and  disinterested 
conduct  in  public  affairs. 

On  the  24th  of  December,  1744,  the  king  ap-"^ 
pointed  Governor  Manso  to  be  the  viceroy  of 
Peru,  and  authorized  him  to  designate  an  interim 
governor  of  Chile.  Francisco  Jose  de  Obando,  the 
Marquis  of  Obando,  received  this  appointment, 
and  occupied  the  office  until  the  arrival  of  the 
king's  appointee,  in  March,  1746. 

At  the  time  of  his  appointment  Obando  was 
at  the  head  of  the  little  squadron  organized  by 
the  viceroy  of  Peru  for  the  defense  of  the  coast 
against  the  aggressions  of  the  English.  In  car- 
rying out  the  plans  of  Governor  Manso  and  in 
initiating  new  undertakings  for  the  advancement 
of  the  colony,  he  displayed  an  interest  and  an 
energy  not  ordinarily  expected  of  one  holding  a 
provisional  appointment.  On  the  arrival  of  Ortiz 
de  Rozas,  he  returned  to  Peru,  and  resumed  his 
duties  as  commander  of  the  Pacific  squadron. 


46  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

VI 

Ortiz  de  Rozas  made  his  formal  entry  into 
Santiago  on  the  25th  of  March,  1746.  He  had 
been  a  soldier;  he  had  served  in  the  war  of  the 
succession  and  in  campaigns  in  Italy  and  Africa; 
and  after  1741  he  had  been  governor  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Buenos  Aires.  Among  the  public  works 
of  his  administration  as  governor  and  captain- 
general  of  Chile,  the  organization  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  San  Felipe  was  the  most  noteworthy.  This 
institution  had  long  been  the  subject  of  corre- 
spondence with  the  king.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  it  was  observed  that  neither 
the  Jesuits  nor  the  Dominicans  gave  the  instruc- 
tion required  in  law  and  medicine,  so  that  those 
who  went  to  the  schools  of  Lima  had  a  distinct 
advantage  over  the  Chileans  who  could  not  con- 
veniently meet  the  expenses  of  the  journey  and 
residence  in  that  city.  Moreover,  during  the  one 
hundred  years  following  the  first  suggestion  of  a 
royal  university  by  the  bishops  of  Imperial  and 
Santiago,  the  population  of  Chile  had  increased; 
the  colony  had  made  a  certain  degree  of  progress ; 
its  attention  was  no  longer  wholly  taken  up  by 
wars  with  the  Araucanians;  and  many  persons 
saw  the  need  of  offering  the  youth  of  the  colony 
opportunities  comparable  with  those  furnished  by 
the  schools  of  Lima.  The  project  to  found  an 
University  was,  therefore,  brought  before  the 
cabildo  of  Santiago  in  December,  1713.     One  of 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES     47 

the  alcaldes,  Francisco  Ruiz  de  Berecedo,^"  pre- 
sented the  subject  in  an  extensive  address,  and 
urged  the  establishment  of  an  university  under 
the  royal  patronage.  He  advocated  that  for  this 
purpose  there  should  be  annually  set  aside  in  per- 
petuity from  the  funds  of  the  royal  treasury  the 
sum  of  five  thousand  two  hundred  dollars  to  erect 
and  maintain  a  royal  university,  which  should 
bear  the  name  of  Saint  Philip,  the  apostle,  and  be 
an  eternal  memorial  to  Philip  V.  The  cabildo, 
having  heard  this  address,  agreed  unanimously 
that  a  letter  should  be  sent  to  the  king,  urging  him 
to  issue  a  decree  creating  the  proposed  university 
and  setting  aside  from  the  royal  treasury  the  sum 
named  for  its  support. 

During  the  next  twenty  years  the  authorities 
of  Chile  and  the  king  were  in  correspondence 
with  reference  to  the  establishment  of  a  royal  uni- 
versity. Important  among  the  representations 
to  the  king  and  the  Council  of  the  Indies  was  that 
made  by  the  authorized  agent  of  the  cabildo  of 
Santiago,  who  had  been  sent  to  Madrid.  This 
was  Tomas  de  Azua."  The  communication  of 
Tomas  de  Aziia  was  directed  to  the  Council  of 
the  Indies.  This  body  had  already  in  its  posses- 
sion a  large  number  of  documents  from  Chile 
dealing  with  the  foundation  of  the  proposed  uni- 

10  For  documents  relating  to  Francisco  Euiz  de  Berecedo,  see 
Medina,  Jose  Toribio,  La  instruccion  puhlica  en  Chile  desde  sus 
origenes  hasta  la  fundacion  de  la  universidad  de  San  Felipe, 
Santiago  de  Chile,  CCCLXXXVI-CCCCI. 

11  See  Medina,  Instruccion  puhlica,  CCCCXXVIII-CCCCXXXI. 


48  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

versity ;  and  on  the  basis  furnished  by  these  com- 
munications, and  on  the  report  of  its  attorney, 
the  Council  formed  its  final  opinion,  which  was 
delivered  to  the  king  under  date  of  April  12,  1736. 
A  little  more  than  two  years  later  the  decree 
establishing  a  royal  university  was  issued,  July 
28,  1738.  One  hundred  and  thirty-six  years  had 
passed  since  the  first  communication  from  Chile 
on  this  subject  was  sent  to  the  king.  The  action 
was  not  rapid  on  the  Spanish  colonial  stage. 

The  royal  decree  of  1738  was  the  charter  of 
the  university.  In  two  long  paragraphs  it  set 
forth  the  need  of  an  university  in  Chile  and  the 
conditions  under  which  it  should  be  established; 
and  in  a  final  paragraph  the  king  made  the  formal 
grant :  * '  I  concede  and  give  a  license  for  the  foun- 
dation, erection,  and  establishment  of  the  pro- 
posed university  in  the  before-mentioned  city  of 
Santiago  of  the  kingdom  of  Chile,  and  I  com- 
mand my  governor  and  captain-general,  royal 
audiencia,  secular  and  ecclesiastical  cabildos,  and 
royal  officials  of  the  already  mentioned  city  of 
Santiago,  and  other  ministers  and  persons  of  the 
said  kingdom,  that  knowing  this  my  royal  resolu- 
tion they  render  their  assistance  for  its  most  exact 
execution  without  permitting  any  alteration  what- 
soever in  the  plan  and  rule  with  which  it  is  my 
will  the  foundation  of  the  university  should  be 
carried  out  in  the  said  city  of  Santiago;  and  this 
despatch  shall  be  observed  by  the  keepers  of  the 
accounts  of  my  Council  of  the  Indies,  and  by  the 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      49 

royal  officials  of  the  already  mentioned  city  of 
Santiago  de  Chile.  "^"  This  decree  arrived  at 
Santiago  in  1740,  but,  owing  to  the  lack  of  funds, 
the  formal  inauguration  of  the  university  was 
delayed  until  the  11th  of  March,  1747.  The  first 
courses  of  instruction  were  opened  June  10,  1756.^^ 
In  spite  of  the  long-continued  efforts  aiming 
at  the  establishment  of  an  university,  there  was 
no  popular  interest  in  any  project  for  general 
education.  There  was  little  disposition  in  the 
non-ecclesiastical  classes  to  favor  the  education 
of  either  women  or  Indians.  Many  of  the  women 
received  no  literary  instruction  whatever;  only 
a  few  learned  to  read,  and  ability  to  write  was 
a  very  rare  accomplishment.  The  creation  of 
schools  for  Indians  had  been  ordered  by  royal 
decrees,  but  these  decrees  had  produced  only 
insignificant  results.  The  lower  classes  of  society, 
whether  in  the  cities  or  in  the  country,  lived  in 
ignorance,  on  account  of  the  lack  of  schools." 

VII 

During  the  years  here  especially  considered 
the  northwestern  part  of  the  continent  was  the 
scene  of  important  changes  in  the  government. 

12  Medina,  Instruccion  publica,  Documentos,  No.  XX.  The 
report  of  the  attorney  of  the  Council  of  the  Indies  and  the  opin- 
ions of  that  body  concerning  the  foundation  of  a  royal  university 
in  Chile  are  printed  in  this  volume  by  Medina,  nos.  XVII-XIX. 

13  Vicuna  Mackenna,  Benjamin,  Historia  critica  y  social  de  la 
ciudad  de  Santiago,  Valparaiso,  1869,  II,  121. 

14  Barros  Arana,  Hist,  de  Chile,  V,  364. 


50  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

The  viceroyalty  of  New  Granada  was  created  in 
1717,  and  the  royal  audiencias  of  Panama  and 
Quito  were  abolished.  The  towns  that  had  been 
subject  to  the  audiencia  of  Panama  were  con- 
tinued under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  viceroy  of 
Peru,  while  the  territory  of  Quito,  or  Ecuador, 
became  a  part  of  the  new  viceroyalty.  After  Vil- 
lalonga  's  brief  term  as  viceroy,  the  viceregal  office 
was  suspended,  in  1722,  and  Quito  resumed  its 
position  under  the  superior  authority  of  Peru. 
Antonio  Manso  Maldonado  was  appointed  Presi- 
dent of  New  Granada,  and  assumed  the  duties  of 
his  office  on  the  17th  of  May,  1724.  At  the  same 
time  Santiago  Larrain  resumed  his  administra- 
tion as  president  of  the  audiencia  of  Quito.  His 
official  activity  had  been  suspended  by  the  organ- 
ization of  the  viceroyalty.  The  uneventful  admin- 
istration of  Antonio  Manso  Maldonado  ended  in 
1731,  when  he  returned  to  Spain,  leaving  the  gov- 
ernment of  New  Granada  in  the  hands  of  the 
audiencia.  This  body  conducted  the  general 
administration  until  1733,  when  Rafael  de  Eslaba 
acceded  to  the  presidency.  He  died  four  years 
later,  and  his  successor,  Antonio  Gonzalez  Man- 
rique,  assumed  the  duties  of  his  office  on  the  21st 
of  October,  1738.  After  a  short  reign  of  thirteen 
days,  his  death  caused  the  office  to  be  again 
vacant.  The  audiencia  then  opened  the  instruc- 
tions relating  to  the  presidency  in  the  event  of 
an  unexpected  vacancy,  and  found  that  Francisco 
Gonzalez  Manrique  was  appointed  to  be  the  sue- 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      51 

cessor  of  his  deceased  brother.  As  the  last  of  the 
presidents  of  New  Granada  under  the  colonial 
regime,  he  held  the  office  until  the  reestablishment 
of  the  viceroyalty  in  1740. 

Manso,  writing  of  the  resources  of  New  Gra- 
nada, affirmed  that  emeralds  existed  there  in  such 
abundance,  in  the  province  of  the  Mozos,  that  they 
had  caused  those  of  the  Orient  to  be  forgotten,  and 
that  amethysts  were  so  abundant  that  one  might 
take  out  as  many  as  he  wished.  But  he  referred 
to  the  fact  that  at  the  same  time  almost  all  of 
the  inhabitants  were  beggars.^^  Bogota  he  found 
"in  the  utmost  desolation;  the  principal  inhab- 
itants and  nobles  withdrawn  from  the  place;  the 
merchants  idle;  the  offices  of  the  government 
vacant;  and  everything  ruined  and  in  a  state  of 
lamentable  poverty.'"*'  The  cause  of  the  poverty 
of  the  people  of  New  Granada  and  of  the  king- 
dom, in  spite  of  the  abundant  natural  resources, 
was  the  principal  theme  of  Manso 's  Relacion. 
The  most  universal  cause  of  this  poverty  he  found 
in  the  fact  "that  the  piety  of  the  faithful  in  these 
parts  is  excessive."  They  enirched  monasteries 
and  the  various  religious  orders,  and  founded 
chapels  in  the  churches.  For  the  favor  of  the 
church  they  made  donations  that  encroached  on 
their  means  of  support  and  added  to  the  dead, 
instead  of  to  the  active,  wealth.^^ 

15  Eelaciones  de  mando   (Bibl.  de  hist.  Tiacional,  Ed.  Posada, 
VIII),  Bogota,  1910,  5-6. 

16  Eelaciones  de  mando,  3. 
I''  Eelaciones  de  mando,  13. 


52  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 


VIII 

The  province  of  Quito,  like  New  Granada, 
suffered  extreme  poverty  and  misery.  The  pro- 
ductive land  was  unequally  distributed.  Here,  as 
elsewhere  in  the  Spanish  dependencies,  the  best 
lands  were  held  in  large  tracts  by  the  Jesuits. 
The  private  holdings,  small  in  comparison,  were 
burdened  with  tithes.  From  this  charge  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  Jesuits  were  exempt.  The  pros- 
pects of  good  harvests  for  many  years  were 
ruined  by  unfavorable  conditions,  by  a  destructive 
drought  followed  by  an  excess  of  rain,  by  an  un- 
usual degree  of  cold,  and  by  pests  that  for  fifteen 
years  afflicted  the  growing  crops. 

One  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  lack  of  per- 
manent progress  in  the  Spanish  dependencies  was 
the  withdrawal  of  funds  for  expenditure  outside 
of  the  political  division  where  they  were  collected, 
or  to  be  invested,  as  already  indicated,  in  the  dead 
hands  of  the  church.  The  annual  contribution  of 
42,375  pesos,  for  instance,  sent  by  Quito  for  the 
support  of  the  garrisons  of  Cartagena  and  Santa 
Marta  withdrew  the  surplus  over  the  necessary 
local  expenditures  that  might  have  made  for  the 
progress  of  the  province.  But  this  was  not  always 
merely  such  a  surplus ;  for  in  1734,  in  order  to  be 
able  to  make  this  payment,  it  was  necessary  to 
withhold  the  salaries  of  the  president  and  judges 
of  the  audiencia  and  of  all  the  other  public  func- 
tionaries." 

18  Suarez,  Federico  Gonzalez,  Historia  general  de  la  Eepublica 
del  Ecuador,  Quito,  1894,  V,  48,  49. 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      53 

There  followed  a  scarcity  of  money.  Many 
purchasers  had  to  resort  to  barter.  This  was  due 
not  merely  to  the  shipment  of  money  to  the  coast 
cities,  but  also  to  the  decline  in  the  exportation  of 
textile  fabrics,  both  to  Peru  and  New  Granada. 
The  diminution  of  the  demand  for  the  manufac- 
tured products  of  Quito  was  due  in  part  to  the 
growth  of  manufacturing  in  other  provinces,  and 
to  the  increased  importation  of  European  wares 
into  the  dependencies.  The  restrictions  on  the 
exportation  of  cacao  had,  moreover,  added  to  the 
poverty  prevailing  throughout  the  province  when 
Dionisio  de  Alcedo  y  Herrera  became  president 
in  1728. 

The  increase  of  poverty  was  attended  by  an 
increase  of  crime,  and  the  criminals  took  advan- 
tage of  the  Immunity  offered  by  the  churches  and 
other  asylums.  The  ecclesiastics  were  slow  to 
assist  the  secular  authorities  to  execute  justice. 
The  city  of  Quito,  therefore,  fell  into  scandalous 
disorder.  Robberies  were  frequent;  thieves  in- 
vaded private  houses  and  even  the  churches.  The 
civil  authorities  were,  however,  aroused  to  action 
by  the  assassination  of  Jose  Quiroz  y  Castrilton, 
a  canon  of  the  church.  The  murderer  fled  to  the 
convent  of  St.  Augustine,  where  he  was  arrested. 
Three  days  later  he  was  condemned  and  hanged. 

Alcedo  retired  from  the  presidency  in  1736. 
In  the  presence  of  poverty  and  crime,  many  of  the 
inhabitants  were  persuaded  they  ought  to  have  a 
better  government,  but  their  experience  encour- 
aged the  thought  that  it  was  not  possible  except 


54  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

through  a  departure  from  the  Spanish  policy. 
The  name  of  Alcedo  is  less  distinctly  remembered 
for  the  president's  administration  than  for  the 
writings  of  his  son,  Antonio  de  Alcedo,  in  the 
Diccionario  geogrdfico  e  historico  de  las  Indias 
occidentales  6  America. 

It  was  in  the  official  period  of  Alcedo 's  suc- 
cessor, Jose  de  Araujo  de  Rio,  that  the  expedition 
of  the  French  Academicians  appeared  on  the 
tableland  of  Ecuador.  Araujo  arrived  at  Quito 
in  1736.  He  was  born  in  Lima,  and  this  fact  helps 
to  account  for  UUoa's  attitude  of  disrespect 
towards  him.  It  was  a  case  of  a  Spanish  official 
in  the  presence  of  a  Creole  official.  Out  of  the 
violent  controversy  that  arose  between  the  Span- 
ish lieutenant  and  the  Creole  governor  there 
appeared  a  widening  breach  bet-ween  the  two 
classes  represented  by  these  antagonists.  The 
relations  that  existed  between  these  men  present 
one  of  the  many  indications  of  the  scorn  of  the 
Spaniard  for  the  Creole,  and  the  Creole's  fateful 
resentment.  In  fact,  one  of  the  characteristics  of 
Quito  society  in  this  period,  besides  its  extreme 
poverty,  was  the  lack  of  union,  the  discord,  the 
antagonism  between  the  Spaniards  and  the  Cre- 
oles. This  was  doubtless  in  part  the  result  of  a 
too  narrow  horizon  of  associations.  This  and  the 
deadening  monotony  of  existence  made  the  inhab- 
itants eager  to  seize  upon  any  occasion  for  a 
popular  celebration.  In  1724  the  accession  of 
Louis  I,  on  the  abdication  of  Philip  V,  was  marked 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      55 

by  a  fiesta  of  public  rejoicing.  Even  the  period  of 
mourning,  following  his  early  death,  was  undoubt- 
edly an  agreeable  change  in  the  dull  uniformity 
of  their  common  life.  Many  of  the  celebrations 
had  an  official  character;  the  death  of  a  king,  the 
birth  of  a  prince,  the  marriage  of  a  member  of 
the  royal  family,  the  coronation  of  a  new  king,  all 
these  events  were  greeted  as  grateful  interrup- 
tions in  the  oppressive  routine  of  an  isolated 
colonial  existence.  The  events  of  the  fiesta  were 
always  the  same:  bull-fights,  illumination,  fire- 
works, and  plays  on  an  open  stage  in  the  plaza. 
A  universal  preliminary  was  a  mass  celebrated 
in  the  cathedral. 

IX 

The  principal  motives  for  reestablishing  the 
viceroyalty  of  New  Granada  were  found  in  the 
jlnability  of  the  viceroy  of  Peru  to  exercise  efficient 
supervision  over  the  vast  territory  subject  to  his 
superior  authority,  and  in  the  frequent  collisions 
between  the  president  of  New  Granada  and  the 
audiencias  of  Panama  and  Quito.  The  first  vice- 
roy of  the  reestablished  viceroyalty  was  Sebastian 
de  Eslaba.  All  the  provinces  of  Ecuador  were 
brought  into  the  new  viceroyalty,  but  the  audi- 
encias of  Quito  and  Panama  were  not  abolished 
as  they  had  been  in  1717.  Their  allegiance  was 
transferred  from  the  viceroy  of  Peru  to  the  vice- 
roy  of  New  Granada.     In  April,   1740,   Eslaba 


56  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

arrived  at  Cartagena,  where  he  organized  his 
viceregal  administration,^^  and  where  he  remained 
until  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service,  in  1749. 
It  was  in  this  period,  in  1746,  that  the  French 
commission  led  by  La  Condamine,  completed  its 
work  of  measuring  the  length  of  a  degree  of  the 
meridian  in  Ecuador.  The  two  Spanish  officers 
who  were  attached  to  the  commission,  devoted 
much  of  their  visit  in  America  to  travelling  and 
making  investigations  in  astronomy,  physics,  and 
geography.  They  also  made  extensive  inquiries 
into  the  political  and  social  conditions  of  Chile, 
Peru,  and  Ecuador.  Some  of  the  results  of  these 
investigations  were  published  in  A  Voyage  to 
South  America  and  Noticias  secretas  de  America. 

One  of  the  government 's  tasks  of  this  time  was 
to  relieve  the  suffering  and  wretchedness  among 
the  poor,  caused  by  the  failure  of  harvests  not 
only  in  Ecuador  but  also  in  New  Granada,  and 
intensified  in  some  quarters  by  the  earthquake's 
destruction  of  Popayan.  In  his  appeals  to  the 
people  the  archbishop  took  a  strictly  ecclesi- 
astical view  of  the  earthquake  and  the  drought, 
exhorted  the  people  to  reform  their  customs,  and 
thus  avert  a  similar  punishment  by  God  in  the 
future. 

Viceroy  Eslaba,  as  already  indicated,  resided 
at  Cartagena  throughout  the  period  of  his  service, 
and,  therefore,  remained  without  much  knowledge 

19  Vergara  y  Velasco,  Francisco  Javier,  Eslava  el  defensor  de 
Cartagena,  in  Capitulos,  70-78. 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      57 

of  the  needs  of  the  other  parts  of  the  territory 
subject  to  his  authority.  On  his  retirement  to 
Spain  in  1749,  he  had  to  his  credit,  however,  the 
heroic  and  successful  defense  of  Cartagena 
against  the  attack  of  the  English  under  Vernon. 

On  July  9,  1746,  Philip  V  died,  and  the  throne 
of  Spain  passed  to  Ferdinand,  a  son  by  his  first 
marriage,  while  Charles,  a  son  by  his  second  mar- 
riage, was  king  of  Naples.  Under  Philip  V,  Spain 
had  given  evidence  of  a  revival  from  its  abject 
state  at  the  end  of  the  preceding  century.  There 
were  indications  of  an  increased  intellectual  activ- 
ity; the  financial  affairs  of  the  government  were 
improved;  and  the  reorganization  of  New  Gra- 
nada promised  increased  governmental  efficiency 
for  that  kingdom.  Although  Philip  V  was  indo- 
lent and  without  the  power  of  effective  initiative, 
he  nevertheless  showed  a  reasonable  discrimina- 
tion in  accepting  measures  presented  to  him  by 
his  ministers. 

The  hostile  attitude  of  the  British  suggested 
that  the  successor  of  Eslaba  should  be  an  experi- 
enced military  or  naval  officer,  and  Jose  Alfonso 
Pizarro,  the  Marquis  of  Villar,  was  appointed. 
Pizarro  had  served  in  the  naval  defense  of  the 
coast  of  Rio  de  la  Plata,  Chile,  and  Peru.  He  was 
at  Cadiz  when  the  notification  of  his  appoinment 
reached  him.  He  left  that  port  September  23, 
1749,  taking  with  him  seven  Jesuits  for  the  pur- 
poses of  extending  the  missionary  enterprises  of 
the   viceroyalty.      His    first   noteworthy    act    on 


58  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

reaching  Bogota  was  to  support  the  bishop  of 
Panama,  Luna  Victoria,  in  creating  a  public  uni- 
versity in  that  city,  which  was  to  be  established 
in  the  house  of  the  Jesuits.  Here,  as  throughout 
Spanish  South  America  at  the  period  in  question, 
whatever  public  opinion  existed  with  respect  to 
education  regarded  with  special  favor  the  work  of 
the  Jesuits.  For  a  number  of  years  the  true  posi- 
tion and  jurisdiction  of  the  governments  of  Pan- 
ama and  Veraguas  had  been  under  discussion. 
This  discussion  was,  however,  finally  terminated 
by  a  royal  decree,  August  20,  1739,  embodying 
these  two  captaincies-general  in  the  viceroyalty 
of  Santa  Fe,  or  New  Granada;  and  a  few  years 
later,  June  20,  1751,  the  king  of  Spain  caused  the 
audiencia  of  Panama  to  be  abolished,  leaving  the 
government  of  the  region  in  essentially  the  same 
position  as  the  government  of  Cartagena. 

Philip  V,  in  1718,  urged  by  his  financial  needs, 
sold  the  right  to  coin  money  in  New  Granada  to 
Jose  Prieto  Salazar,  whose  title  as  the  possessor 
of  this  right  was  Tesorero  blanquecedor.  But 
after  the  death  of  Philip  the  crown  resumed  this 
right,  making  compensation  to  the  person  or  per- 
sons deprived  of  it.  Prieto  was  permitted  to 
enjoy  his  acquired  monopoly  until  his  death,  when 
it  passed  to  his  widow,  Maria  Ana  de  Ricuarte, 
who  was  granted  a  pension  for  surrendering  it. 
A  similar  method  for  providing  coin  had  been  fol- 
lowed in  other  provinces.  In  Chile  the  monopoly 
of  the  mint  was  held  for  twenty-two  years  by 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      59 

Francisco  Garcia  Huidoboro,  but  in  1770  Charles 
III  revoked  it  in  favor  of  the  crown.  The  mint 
of  Popayan  was  incorporated  in  the  crown  the 
same  year,  when  the  holder  of  the  monopoly  was 
granted  a  pension  and  the  title  of  Count  of  Casa- 
Valencia.  The  pension  accorded  to  his  legitimate 
heirs  was  enjoyed  by  the  family  until  1859. 

The  sale  of  alcoholic  liquors  was  an  exceed- 
ingly profitable  branch  of  trade  as  carried  on 
during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Some  of  the  parish  priests  did  not  hesitate  to 
purchase  the  right  to  sell  such  liquors  in  specified 
districts,  and,  in  the  exercise  of  this  right,  they 
helped  to  transform  the  public  celebrations  of  the 
churches  into  scenes  of  drunkenness  and  debauch- 
ery. The  evils  resulting  from  this  traffic  were 
recognized  by  Archbishop  Aziia,  and  on  the  25th 
of  October,  1749,  he  issued  an  edict  prohibiting 
the  clergy  from  engaging  in  this  traffic  under  pen- 
alty of  excommunication;  but  the  practices  at 
some  of  the  church  festivities  in  later  times  in- 
dicate that  Azua's  edict  was  not  permanently 
effective. 

The  viceroy  Pizarro  had  spent  much  of  his  life 
in  a  different  field  of  official  activity,  and  conse- 
quently found  the  duties  involved  in  the  civil 
administration  of  an  extended  territory  disagree- 
ably burdensome.  He,  therefore,  sought  to  be 
relieved  of  his  office,  and  his  repeated  requests 
were  finally  granted  in  1753,  when  he  returned 
to  Spain.    His  successor  was  Jose  de  Solis  Folch 


60  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

de  Cardona,  of  a  family  that  had  gained  an  influ- 
ential position  at  the  court  of  Spain  during 
the  war  of  the  succession.  Although  frequently 
referred  to  as  very  young  at  the  time  of  his 
appointment,  he  was  in  fact  then  not  less  than 
thirty-five  years  old.  His  childhood  acquaintance 
with  Ferdinand  VI  suggests  that  he  must  have 
been  of  nearly  the  same  age  as  the  king,  who  was 
forty  years  old  in  1753.  Various  rumors  were 
current  concerning  his  scandalous  life  in  Madrid 
at  the  time  of  his  appointment,  and  during  his 
early  years  in  Bogota;  but  no  very  solid  founda- 
tion for  these  tales  has  been  revealed.  The  record 
of  his  public  activity  in  the  construction  of  roads 
and  in  the  management  of  the  finances  indicate 
an  intelligent  and  effective  administrator.  His 
plans  for  public  works,  however,  exceeded  the 
financial  resources  of  the  government,  and  under 
these  circumstances  he  tried  to  induce  the  inhab- 
itants of  certain  towns  to  undertake  work  in  their 
respective  districts.  But  the  protective  govern- 
ment had  not  developed  in  the  people  the  power 
to  initiate  public  work  or  the  will  to  make  volun- 
tary contributions  for  the  public  good.  The  atti- 
tude of  the  inhabitants  of  New  Granada  with 
respect  to  public  improvements  is  described  by 
Viceroy  Solis  in  the  remark  that ' '  they  wished  the 
utilities  without  expense  or  labor.  "^°  Solis  not 
only  gave  attention  to  the  kingdom's  material 
betterment,  but  also  undertook  to  gather  its  sta- 

20  iJeZo<?ianes  de  mando,  84. 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      61 

tistics  into  systematic  form.  For  this  purpose  he 
appointed  a  commission  composed  of  the  regent 
of  the  tribunal  of  accounts,  Francisco  Vergara, 
and  the  chief  accountant,  Juan  Martin  de  Sarra- 
tea.  However  imperfect  may  have  been  the 
accomplishment,  the  undertaking  has  the  merit 
of  a  first  attempt  to  organize  a  department  of 
statistics  in  New  Granada.  ""  :^  :$  —  /^ (pj 

Throughout  the  period  of  his  office,  Solis  main- 
tained amicable  relations  with  the  church.  In 
December,  1756,  he  received  the  information  that 
his  brother,  the  archbishop  of  Seville,  had  been 
promoted  to  the  dignity  of  a  cardinal.  This  event 
offered  the  cabildo  of  the  city  an  occasion  for 
honoring  the  viceroy,  and  in  this  project  the 
church,  through  the  ecclesiastical  cabildo,  deter- 
mined to  cooperate ;  and,  by  this  cooperation  with 
the  secular  authority,  to  manifest  the  high  regard 
of  the  cabildo  and  the  members  of  the  church 
generally  for  the  viceroy. 

X 

The  province  of  Guayana  was  one  of  the  three 
provinces  subject  to  the  governor  who  resided  at 
Santa  Inez  de  Cumana,  and  who  was  subordinated 
to  the  viceroy  of  Santa  Fe,  or  New  Granada.  The 
other  provinces  were  Cumana  and  Barcelona. 
The  town  of  Santo  Thome  was  founded  in  the  last 
decade  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  became  the 
capital  of  the  province  of  Guayana.    The  founder 


62  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

and  first  governor  was  Antonio  de  Berrio.  Kein- 
forcements  brought  from  Spain  by  Domingo  de 
Vera  and  other  additions  raised  the  number  of 
the  inhabitants  to  about  four  hundred,  including 
men,  women,  and  children.  The  early  expedition 
for  Minoa  withdrew  about  three  hundred  of  the 
inhabitants,  but  later  recruits  were  received  from 
Trinidad.  This  settlement  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Caroni  is  referred  to  as  being  in  1598,  a  Spanish 
**rancerie  of  some  twentie  or  thirtie  houses."" 

In  1598  there  appears  to  have  been  at  the 
"rancerie"  a  force  of  sixty  cavalrymen  and  a 
hundred  musketeers.  After  the  withdrawal  of 
Ealeigh,  near  the  end  of  January,  1618,  the  inhab- 
itants began  to  reconstruct  the  town,  building 
churches  and  a  Dominican  as  well  as  a  Franciscan 
monastery.  The  Dutch  West  India  Company  sent 
a  force  to  attack  Santo  Thome  under  Admiral 
Adriaen  Janszoon  Pater,  who  sacked  and  burned 
the  town,  which  had  at  this  time  one  hundred  and 
thirty  or  a  hundred  and  forty  houses.  In  1653 
it  had  very  few  inhabitants ;  in  fact,  between  1591 
and  1648  it  maintained  a  precarious  existence,  and 
was  not  in  a  position  to  serve  as  a  colonizing  set- 
tlement for  the  neighboring  country.  It  was  the 
only  Spanish  settlement  on  the  Orinoco  before  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  But  in  the 
first  half  of  that  century  Spanish  missionaries 
crossed  the  divide  and  established  themselves  on 

21  Keymis,  A  Relation  of  the  Second  Voyage  to  Guiana,  Lon- 
don,  1596,  15. 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      63 

the  northern  tributaries  of  the  Cuyuni.  The 
earliest  of  these  establishments  was  the  mission 
of  Cupapuy,  founded  in  1733.  In  1737  they  estab- 
lished the  mission  and  cattle  ranch  of  Divina  Pas- 
tora,  on  the  Cumuri.  Other  posts  in  this  region 
were  the  Indian  village  of  Cumuri,  the  mission  of 
Tupuquen,  the  mission  of  Palmar,  founded  in 
1746,  the  mission  of  Miamo,  of  1748,  and  the  mis- 
sions of  Curumo  and  Mutanambo.  Through  these 
missions  the  Spaniards  came  into  conflict  with  the 
Dutch,  who  regarded  them  as  encroaching  on  their 
possessions.  The  Dutch  considered  Santo  Thome 
as  a  Spanish  outpost  designed  to  facilitate  hostile 
attacks.  The  unfriendly  relations  between  the 
two  colonies  were  aggravated  by  the  fact  that 
slaves  who  had  run  away  from  Essequibo  were 
harbored  by  the  Spaniards,  and  that  the  Span- 
iards even  took  by  force  and  retained  slaves  who 
belonged  to  the  Dutch. 

The  first  site  of  the  town  of  Santo  Thome,  or 
the  first  town  in  the  province  of  Guayana  to  bear 
that  name,  was  situated  near  the  confluence  of 
the  Caroni  and  the  Orinoco,  opposite  the  island 
of  Faxardo.  The  second  site  was  about  twelve 
leagues  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Caroni.  The 
third  was  at  the  narrows  of  the  Orinoco.  The 
removal  to  Angostura,  or  the  third  site,  was 
effected  in  1764,  by  Governor  Joaquin  Moreno  de 
Mendoza,  under  a  royal  order  of  1762;  and  the 
town  established  at  Angostura  was  known  as 
Santo  Thome  de  la  Nueva  Guayana,  thus  distin- 


64  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

guishing  it  from  Vieja  Guayana.  At  tlie  time  of 
the  removal  of  the  towii  to  Angostura,  the  Capu- 
chin missions  of  the  Orinoco  below  the  Caroni 
were  transferred  to  positions  above  that  river. 
The  material  local  basis  of  the  town's  support 
was  about  twenty  haciendas,  or  estates,  and  small 
herds  of  cattle,  aggregating  about  eighteen  hun- 
dred animals.  To  the  product  of  these  estates, 
the  missions  of  the  province  made  important  con- 
tributions. The  three  groups  of  missions  occu- 
pied different  parts  of  this  vast  interior  region; 
and  this  partition  of  the  territory  was  authorized 
by  the  governors  and  confirmed  by  the  king. 
The  territory  assigned  to  the  Capuchins  extended 
from  the  mouths  of  the  Orinoco  to  the  narrows; 
that  assigned  to  the  Observantists,  from  the  nar- 
rows to  the  river  Caura ;  and  that  assigned  to  the 
Jesuits,  from  the  river  Caura  indefinitely  towards 
the  west.-^  The  Capuchins  began  to  establish 
their  missions  in  1687,  but  owning  to  the  difficulties 
of  obtaining  the  proper  support  and  protection 
their  work  suffered  long  interruptions.  In  1724, 
however,  the  mission  of  Concepcion  de  Suay  was 
founded  about  two  leagues  from  the  presidio  of 
Guayana.^^  The  Jesuit  missions  were  established 
on  the  rivers  Meta  and  Casanare,  and  were  sub- 

22  Cuervo,  Antonio  B.,  Coleccion  de  documentos  sohre  geo- 
grafia  y  historia  de  Colombia,  Bogota,  1891,  III,  23. 

23  A  list  of  the  Capuchin  missions  of  Guayana,  together  with 
the  dates  of  their  foundation  and  abandonment,  is  given  in  Be- 
port  of  U.  S.  Commission  on  the  true  divisonal  line  between 
Venezuela  and  British  Chiiana,  Washington,   1898,  III,   215-217. 


STATE    OF    SPANISH   DEPENDENCIES      65 

ject  to  the  authorities  of  Bogota.  Only  four  of 
them  were  south  of  the  Orinoco,  and  belonged  to 
the  province  of  Guayana.  These  were  less  favor- 
ably situated  than  the  others,  by  reason  of  the 
difficulties  of  communication  and  the  unhealth- 
fulness  of  their  environment.  The  conversion  of 
the  Indians  of  the  plains  was  only  a  part  of  the 
undertaking  of  these  missions.  They  led  a 
serious  campaign  against  the  barbarism  of  the 
various  tribes  that  inhabited  this  region.  They 
sought,  moreover,  to  gain  and  communicate  to 
the  civilized  world  systematic  knowledge  of  the 
Indians,  their  country,  and  their  language. 

Prior  to  1726,  the  missionaries  in  the  province 
of  Guayana  found  it  difficult  to  obtain  the  food 
requisite  for  their  support;  and  even  in  1742,  on 
information  received  concerning  the  poverty  of 
the  missionaries  of  the  plains,  the  king  ordered 
that  support  should  be  extended  to  them  from  the 
royal  treasury.^*  The  first  steps  towards  making 
the  missions  self-supporting  was  the  introduction 
of  cattle  of  various  kinds.  These  multiplied  rap- 
idly on  the  grassy  plains,  but  a  diet  consisting 
exclusively  of  flesh  was  not  satisfactory,  and  in 
the  progress  of  years  the  several  missions  were 
able  to  harvest  yucca,  rice,  plantains,  and  sugar- 
cane. When  the  herds  had  grown  to  be  very 
numerous,  each  mission  formed  an  organization 
for  their  care.     There  was  a  principal  superin- 

24  See  Cuervo,  IV,  209,  for  decree  by  the  king  addressed  to 
the   governor   and   captain-general   of   New   Granada. 


66  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

tendent,  with  such  subordinates  as  were  needed. 
It  became  evident  very  early  that  horses  would 
be  needed,  especially  for  the  vaqueros,  to  assist 
them  in  watching  and  controlling  the  extensive 
and  increasing  herds;  and  in  the  course  of  time 
the  mission  became  abundantly  supplied  with  both 
horses  and  mules. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  much  of  the  hostility 
shown  towards  the  Jesuits,  in  the  region  of  the 
Orinoco  as  well  as  elsewhere,  was  due  to  their  suc- 
cessful conduct  of  strictly  worldly  affairs.  The 
charges  that  were  brought  against  them  prior  to 
their  expulsion  were  provoked  by  the  jealousy  of 
secular  traders.  But  it  became  very  clear  to  the 
civil  authorities  that  no  missionary  undertaking 
on  the  plains  of  the  Orinoco  and  the  Casanare 
could  be  successful  except  as  the  missions  them- 
selves developed  a  material  basis,  and  an  inde- 
pendent source  of  supplies,  for  their  support. 

Moreover,  after  the  development  of  the  mis- 
sions, the  products  resulting  from  the  labor  of 
the  Indians  was  especially  important  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  military  establishment.  The  surplus 
not  required  for  the  maintenance  of  the  mission 
was  transferred  to  the  presidio,  and  according  to 
Governor  Diguja,  ''it  can  be  safely  said  that  with- 
out this  assistance  it  would  have  been  impossible 
for  the  presidio  to  support  the  persons  who  live 
in  it.  Nor  would  it  have  been  possible  for  the  per- 
sons who  were  engaged  in  commercial  affairs  in 
the    region    of   the    Orinoco    to    carry    on    their 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      67 

business  with  as  much  facility  as  they  can  do  at 
present,  had  it  not  been  for  the  fact  that  at  the 
presidio  they  can  find  abundant  provision  of 
casabe  and  other  supplies  sent  there  by  the  mis- 
sionaries. Should  the  missions  fail  at  any  time 
to  furnish  this  assistance,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
presidio  would  certainly  starve.  Supplies  from 
other  sources  would  be  very  costly,  and  only  be 
obtained  at  very  distance  places.  "^^ 

A  list  of  the  missions  or  Indian  villages  of  the 
plains  of  the  Orinoco,  giving  the  dates  of  their 
foundation  and  abandonment,  shows  a  striking 
lack  of  stability;  and  this  was  due  in  part  to  the 
fact  that  there  were  not  missionaries  enough  to 
provide  one  for  each  settlement,  but  only  one  for 
three  or  four  missions  widely  separated  from  one 
another.  Thus,  in  the  absence  of  the  missionary, 
there  was  wanting  the  restraining  and  disciplin- 
ary force  to  curb  the  natural  propensities  of  the 
natives,  and  to  keep  them  from  obeying  the  call 
of  the  wild. 

In  the  province  of  Caracas,  another  region 
that  was  later  to  be  embodied  in  the  territory  of 
Venezuela,  the  Dutch  contraband  trade,  the  oper- 
ations of  the  Guipuzcoa  Company,  and  the  rebel- 
lion of  Francisco  de  Leon  occupied  fully  the  atten- 
tion of  the  inhabitants.-*^ 

25  Report   submitted    by    Jose    Diguja,    Governor    of    Cumana, 
chap.  VIII,  sec.  6. 

26  See  The  Spanish  Dependencies  in  South  America,  II,  chap. 
XVII. 


68  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 


XI 

Still  farther  towards  the  east  the  island  of 
Trinidad  presented  a  miniature  revolution.  By  a 
royal  decree  of  1731,  the  provinces  of  Guayana, 
Caracas,  Cumana,  Barcelona,  Carabobo,  Barqui- 
simeto,  and  Coro  were  united  under  a  captain- 
general.  In  consequence  of  this  act,  the  govern- 
ment of  New  Andalucia  ceased  to  exist.  Trinidad 
was  subject  to  this  new  government  only  with 
respect  to  financial  affairs ;  for  all  other  branches 
of  its  administration,  it  was  dependent  on  the 
audiencia  of  Bogota.^^ 

Four  years  earlier  Trinidad  suffered  an  eco- 
nomic disaster  in  the  failure  of  the  cacao  to 
mature.  This  failure  was  evidently  due  to  some 
change  in  the  temperature  or  other  conditions  of 
cultivation ;  but  the  assignment  of  a  natural  cause 
for  the  calamity  did  not  meet  the  approval  of 
Padre  Gumilla,  who  held  it  to  be  a  divine  punish- 
ment laid  upon  the  cultivators  for  their  neglect 
to  pay  the  tithes  regularly.^*  Although  the  cause 
of  the  failure  was  obscure,  the  effect  was  clear: 
the  loss  of  private  incomes ;  the  cessation  of  com- 
merce with  the  colony;  the  emigration  of  a  large 
part  of  the  inhabitants,  reducing  the  colony  to 
fifty  whites   and   a   hundred   and  fifty   negroes, 

27  Blanco,  Jos6  Felix,  Documentos  para  la  historia  de  la  vida 
publica  del  Libertador  de  Colombia,  Peru  y  Bolivia,  Caracas,  1875- 
1878,  I,  no.  74,  sec,  5;  Borde,  Pierre  Gustave  Louis,  Histoire  de 
I'ile  de  Trinidad  sov^  le  gouvernment  espagnol,  Paris,  1876-82, 
II,  91. 

28  Orinoco  ilustrado,  I,  chap.  I,  see.  II. 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      69 

mulattos,  and  mestizos;  and  the  decline  of  the 
public  revenues  to  two  hundred  and  thirty-one 
dollars.  The  luxuriant  vegetation  of  the  tropics 
invaded  the  fields  that  had  been  cultivated.  The 
village  of  San  Jose  de  Oruiia,  its  houses  deserted 
and  fallen  into  ruins,  presented  the  appearance 
of  an  abandoned  town.  The  colony  was  unable  to 
meet  the  expenses  of  its  administration,  and,  when 
the  cabildo  imposed  a  slight  tax  for  the  purpose 
of  renewing  the  palm-leaf  roof  of  the  municipal 
building,  the  inhabitants  petitioned  the  sovereign, 
requesting  that  they  might  be  exempt  from  vio- 
lence in  case  it  should  not  be  possible  for  them 
to  pay  the  impost.  A  few  years  later  there  was 
observed  to  be  an  increase  in  the  population  of 
Trinidad,  manifesting  itself  by  a  rise  in  the  pub- 
lic revenues  from  two  hundred  and  thirty-one 
dollars  in  1733  to  twelve  hundred  and  seventeen 
dollars  in  1735.  But  this  returning  tide  of  pros- 
perity was  checked  in  1739  by  an  epidemic  of 
smallpox  that  carried  off  a  large  part  of  the  pop- 
ulation. The  disease  raged  especially  among  the 
Indians,  who,  terrified  by  its  appearance,  fled 
from  those  who  were  attacked  by  it.  Even  the 
monkeys  did  not  escape  its  virulence.  To  these 
and  other  ills  were  added  the  terrors  of  an  Eng- 
lish invasion  in  1740,  when  ships  of  the  enemy 
entered  the  Gulf  of  Paria  and  ascended  the 
Orinoco.  This  new  danger  moved  the  colonists  to 
petition  Philip  V  for  fifty  soldiers  to  be  added 
to  the  twenty  who  then  constituted  the  garrison 
of  the  island. 


70  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

The  political  affairs  of  the  colony  were  not 
less  embarrassing  than  its  economic  affairs.  Gov- 
ernor Esteban  Simon  de  Linan  y  Vera  transferred 
the  government  temporarily  to  Major  Espinosa, 
the  military  commandant,  and  went  to  Comuna 
without  giving  the  cabildo  notice  of  his  proposed 
absence.  The  two  powers  had  evidently  been  in 
conflict;  for  when  on  the  9th  of  July,  1743,  the 
cabildo  learned  that  the  governor  had  departed 
several  days  earlier,  it  immediately  held  an  ex- 
cited meeting,  and  declared  that  the  appointment 
of  Espinosa  was  illegal.  It  decided  that  the  two 
alcaldes  were  the  only  persons  who,  in  the  absence 
of  the  governor,  had  the  right  to  conduct  the  civil 
and  military  government  of  the  island.  Espinosa 
was,  therefore,  deprived  of  his  official  power.  The 
spirit  of  revolt  spread  from  the  cabildo  to  the 
people,  and  when  Governor  Esteban  Simon  de 
Lilian  y  Vera  returned,  in  1745,  there  was  a  gen- 
eral uprising  against  him.  He  was  seized  and 
imprisoned,  and  his  property  was  confiscated. 
Stimulated  by  the  popular  revolt,  the  cabildo 
aroused  itself,  and  declared  the  governor  deprived 
of  his  office  for  having  been  absent  from  the  colony 
without  permission.  This  revolutionary  activity 
of  the  people  and  the  cabildo  was  followed  by  a 
reaction.  Major  Espinosa  fled  to  the  governor 
of  Cumana,  who  caused  the  details  of  the  insur- 
rection to  be  passed  to  the  viceroy  of  New  Gra- 
nada through  the  captain-general  of  Caracas. 
The  viceroy,  as  the  governmental  superior  in  all 


STATE    OF    SPANISH    DEPENDENCIES      71 

the  lands  constituting  the  viceroyalty,  authorized 
the  lieutenant  governor  of  Cumana  to  proceed  to 
Trinidad,  to  liberate  the  governor  from  the  prison 
where  he  was  detained,  and  to  replace  him  in  pos- 
session of  the  office  and  employments  of  which  he 
had  been  violently  dispossessed. 

At  the  head  of  an  effective  force,  the  lieuten- 
ant governor  of  Cumana  reached  Trinidad  with- 
out opposition  in  December,  1745,  where  he  lib- 
erated the  governor,  who  had  been  eight  months 
in  prison,  and  put  him  in  possession  of  his  prop- 
erty. Then,  proceeding  in  his  judicial  capacity, 
he  condemned  the  two  alcaldes  to  imprisonment 
in  irons  and  their  accomplices  to  banishment  for 
ten  years.  The  property  of  the  alcaldes  was  con- 
fiscated, and  used  as  a  contribution  towards  the 
expenses  of  the  expedition  against  the  insurgents. 

Having  subdued  the  revolt,  Felix  Espinosa  de 
los  Monteros  remained  as  provisional  governor  of 
Trinidad.  His  administration  lasted  six  months, 
and  on  June  3,  1746,  he  was  superseded  by  Juan 
Jose  Salcedo,  a  lieutenant  colonel  of  cavalry,  who 
immediately  encountered  opposition  on  the  part 
of  the  cabildo.  This  body  refused  to  act  on  his 
suggestion,  and  lapsed  into  hopeless  inactivity.  It 
held  not  more  than  one  meeting  a  year  between 
1746  and  1750.  The  island's  political  state  had 
fallen  to  the  level  of  its  economic  condition.  If 
the  cabildo  aroused  itself  in  1750,  it  was  to  peti- 
tion the  king  to  cause  the  exiles  to  be  recalled. 
This  action  was  advocated  on  the  ground  that 


72  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

without  them  there  were  too  few  persons  of  intel- 
ligence in  the  island  to  perform  the  functions  of 
public  officials.  The  return  of  the  exiles  was  de- 
manded, moreover,  to  relieve  their  families  of  the 
poverty  and  misery  into  which  they  had  fallen. 
By  a  proclamation  of  the  governor,  dated  April  11, 
1751,  the  decree  of  banishment  was  revoked,  and 
those  persons  who  had  been  affected  by  it  were 
permitted  to  return  to  Trinidad;  and  with  their 
reappearance  intrigues  and  plots  were  revived. 

A  critical  event  in  the  affairs  of  Trinidad  was 
the  transfer  of  the  capital  from  San  Jose  de 
Oruiia  to  Port  of  Spain.  The  former  capital  was 
abandoned  by  all  but  a  few  of  its  inhabitants; 
its  buildings  were  dilapidated;  its  streets  were 
choked  with  tropical  vegetation,  and  torrential 
rains  had  washed  deep  ditches  through  them ;  and 
the  cabildo  was  composed  of  ignorant  persons 
who  neglected  their  duties  and  stood  in  opposition 
to  the  governor.  The  new  capital  presented  con- 
ditions more  favorable  for  advancement.  It  was 
on  the  coast ;  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  and  those 
of  the  neighboring  country  were  industrious  and 
thrifty,  and  through  their  efforts  the  island  en- 
tered upon  a  period  of  more  hopeful  prospects. 

This  petty  insurrection  is  without  special  sig- 
nificance, except  as  one  of  many  practical  indica- 
tions of  the  ambition  which  moved  even  small 
Spanish  colonies  in  America  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  to  enlarge  their  governmental  preroga- 
tives, and  thereby  limit  the  power  exercised  by 
the  royal  government. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   SPANISH-PORTUGUESE   BOUNDARY 

TREATY  OF  1750  AND  THE  WAR  OF 

THE  SEVEN  REDUCTIONS 

Terms  of  the  treaty  of  1750.  II.  Protests  of  the 
Indians  against  removal.  III.  The  boundary  com- 
missioners and  the  disposition  of  the  Indians.  IV. 
Active  hostilities  of  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
against  the  Indians  of  the  seven  reductions.  V. 
"Emperor"  Nicolas  Nanguiru,  further  hostilities, 
and  preparations  for  exile.  VI.  Failure  of  the 
campaign  and  the  abrogation  of  the  treaty. 


The  armistice  of  1737  did  not  end  the  rivalry 
of  the  Spanish  and  the  Portuguese  in  South 
America.  The  Portuguese  continued  to  strengthen 
the  fortifications  of  Colonia,  and  to  extend  their 
control  over  the  coast  of  Rio  de  la  Plata.  They 
drove  away  the  Spanish  settlers,  and  took  pos- 
session of  their  lands.  Complaints  made  to  the 
king  of  Spain  concerning  the  acts  of  the  Portu- 
guese finally  persuaded  him  to  order  the  governor 
to  attack  and  take  the  town  of  Colonia.  The  first 
attempt  having  failed,  the  Spanish  government 
proposed  to  employ  a  force  that  would  be  success- 


74  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

ful.  But  at  this  point  the  king  of  Spain  was 
induced  to  take  a  new  view  of  the  situation.  Eng- 
land and  Holland  determined  to  continue  their 
support  of  Portugal.  The  Spanish  king's  efforts 
were,  moreover,  paralyzed  by  the  thought  that  the 
influence  of  his  enemies  might  cause  him  to  lose 
his  hold  on  the  Two  Sicilies.  In  the  meantime 
the  Portuguese  went  on  adding  new  strength  to 
the  fortress  of  Colonia,  and  the  English  made  use 
of  it  in  carrying  on  the  slave  trade. 

Finally,  in  1750,  by  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  an 
attempt  was  made  to  settle  the  controversy  about 
Colonia,  and  to  fix  the  boundary,  or  line  of  de- 
marcation, between  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese 
possessions.  This  treaty  declared  that  for  the 
future  it  itself  should  be  the  only  basis  and  rule 
for  determining  the  limits  of  the  Portuguese  and 
Spanish  dominions  in  America  and  Asia;  that  it 
should  set  aside  and  abolish  whatever  rights  had 
been  asserted  on  the  basis  of  the  bull  of  Alex- 
ander VI  and  the  treaties  of  Tordesillas,  Lisbon, 
and  Madrid,  or  of  any  other  treaties,  conventions, 
or  promises ;  and  that  all  future  transactions  with 
reference  to  the  boundaries  of  these  dominions 
should  not  make  use  of  other  treaties  or  agree- 
ments, but  should  refer  to  the  prescriptions  of  this 
treaty  as  the  invariable  rule  to  be  adopted  with- 
out controversy. 

By  the  thirteenth  article  of  this  treaty  Portu- 
gal ceded  Colonia  to  the  crown  of  Spain;  and,  in 
the   following  article,    Spain   formally   ceded  to 


SPANISH-PORTUGUESE  TREATY  OF  1750     75 

Portugal  any  and  all  lands  that  had  been  occupied 
by  Spain  or  to  which  Spain  held  a  title,  and  which 
by  this  treaty  were  declared  to  belong  to  Portugal. 
The  territory  involved  in  this  cession  embraced 
seven  of  the  Indian  villages,  or  reductions,  estab- 
lished by  the  Jesuits  in  Paraguay  on  the  east  of 
the  Uruguay  River.  The  missionaries  of  these 
reductions  were  required  to  withdraw,  to  take 
with  them  their  furniture  and  effects,  and  also  the 
Indian  inhabitants  of  the  reductions.  These  seven 
reductions  with  their  houses  and  lands,  their 
churches  and  other  buildings,  were  transferred  to 
the  crown  of  Portugal. 

Provision  having  been  made  for  the  determin- 
ation of  the  boundary  line,  elaborate  and  strict 
regulations  were  established  with  respect  to  trade 
and  travel  across  the  border,  providing  for  a 
policy  of  non-intercourse.  The  treaty  also  pro- 
vided for  a  board  of  commissioners  to  fix  prac- 
tically the  line  of  demarcation,  as  specified  by  the 
treaty.^ 

n 

Neither  the  Spaniards  nor  the  Portuguese 
were  especially  interested  in  the  provisions  of  the 
treaty  relating  to  the  boundary  in  the  interior, 
uninhabited  part  of  the  continent ;  but  the  cession 

1  Calvo,  Carlos,  Coleccidn  completa  de  los  tratados  de  la 
America  Latina,  Paris,  1862,  II,  241-260;  the  treaty  to  determine 
the  instructions  for  the  board  of  commissioners  is  printed  in 
Calvo 's  collection,  II,  261-277. 


76  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

of  the  seven  Jesuit  reductions  to  the  Portuguese 
attracted  the  interested  attention  of  everybody 
concerned.  The  Indians  objected  emphatically  to 
the  transfer  of  their  lands  and  houses  to  their 
enemies,  and  raised  the  question  of  the  possibility 
of  resisting  the  execution  of  the  treaty.  They 
even  found  it  difficult  to  believe  that  the  king  had 
ordered  their  removal.  This  is  seen  in  their 
appeal  to  Governor  Andonaegui,  as  presented  by 
Dobrizhoffer.  The  form  of  the  appeal  may  have 
been  given  by  a  Jesuit,  but  the  later  attitude  of 
the  Indians  indicates  that  the  document  presented 
their  sentiments:  "Neither  we  nor  our  fathers 
have  ever  offended  the  king  or  ever  attacked  the 
Spanish  settlements.  How,  then,  innocent  as  we 
are,  can  we  believe  that  the  best  of  princes  would 
condemn  us  to  banishment!  Our  fathers,  our 
forefathers,  our  brethren,  have  fought  under  the 
king's  banner,  often  against  the  Portuguese,  often 
against  the  savages:  who  can  tell  how  many  of 
them  have  fallen  in  battle,  or  before  the  walls  of 
Nova  Colonia,  so  often  besieged!  We  ourselves 
can  show  in  our  scars  the  proofs  of  our  fidelity 
and  our  courage.  We  have  ever  had  it  at  heart 
to  extend  the  limits  of  the  Spanish  empire,  and 
to  defend  it  against  all  enemies ;  nor  have  we  ever 
been  sparing  of  our  blood,  or  of  our  lives.  Will 
then  the  Catholic  king  requite  these  services  by 
the  bitter  punishment  of  expelling  us  from  our 
native  land,  our  churches,  our  homes  and  fields 
and  fair  inheritance?     This  is  beyond  all  belief. 


SPANISH-PORTUGUESE  TREATY  OF  1750     77 

By  the  royal  letters  of  Philip  V,  which,  according 
to  his  own  injunctions,  were  read  to  us  from  the 
pulpits,  we  were  exhorted  never  to  sutfer  the 
Portuguese  to  approach  our  borders,  because  they 
were  his  enemies  and  ours.  Now,  we  are  told  that 
the  king  will  have  us  yield  up  to  these  very  Portu- 
guese, this  wide  and  fertile  territory,  which  the 
kings  of  Spain,  and  God  and  Nature  have  given 
us,  and  which  for  a  whole  century  we  have  tilled 
with  the  sweat  of  our  brows.  Can  any  one  be 
persuaded  that  Ferdinand  the  son  should  enjoin 
us  to  do  that  which  was  so  frequently  forbidden 
by  his  father  Philip  ?  But  if  time  and  change  have 
indeed  brought  about  such  friendship  between  old 
enemies  that  the  Spaniards  are  desirous  to  gratify 
the  Portuguese,  there  are  ample  tracts  of  country 
to  spare,  and  let  those  be  given  them.  What! 
Shall  we  resign  our  towns  to  the  Portuguese — the 
Portuguese — by  whose  ancestors  so  many  hundred 
thousands  of  ours  have  been  slaughtered,  or  car- 
ried away  into  cruel  slavery  in  Brazil?  This  is 
as  intolerable  to  us  as  it  is  incredible  that  it  should 
be  required.  When,  with  the  Holy  Gospel  in  our 
hand,  we  promised  and  vowed  fidelity  to  God  and 
the  king  of  Spain,  his  priests  and  governors  prom- 
ised to  us  on  his  part,  friendship  and  perpetual 
protection;  and  now  we  are  commanded  to  give 
up  our  country !  Is  it  to  be  believed  that  the  prom- 
ises, and  faith,  and  friendship  of  the  Spaniards, 
can  be  of  so  little  stability?"^ 

2  Dobrizhoffer,  Martin,  Account  of  the  Ahipones,  London,  1822, 
I,  17-29;  Bauza,  II,  144-148. 


78  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  Jesuits  opposed 
the  treaty  of  1750  from  the  beginning.  They  could 
not  reasonably  be  expected  to  assume  any  other 
attitude  toward  it,  since  it  proposed  to  destroy  in 
a  considerable  territory  the  results  of  their  labors 
which  had  been  continued  for  more  than  a  hun- 
dred years.  But  they  repudiated  the  charge  that 
they  had  instigated  or  provoked  the  uprising,  a 
charge  that  later  inquiries  have  found  to  be  with- 
out foundation. 

In  the  interval  of  two  years  between  the 
signing  of  the  treaty  and  the  arrival  of  the  com- 
missioners appointed  to  mark  the  boundary,  the 
Jesuits  of  Paraguay  addressed  a  memorial  to  the 
audiencia  of  Charcas,  protesting  particularly 
against  the  transfer  of  the  seven  reductions  to 
Portugal  and  the  removal  of  the  inhabitants.  A 
similar  protest  was  presented  to  the  audiencia  of 
Lima.  A  copy  of  this  memorial  was  forwarded  by 
the  viceroy  to  the  king  of  Spain,  and  a  second 
copy  was  transmitted  to  the  governor  of  Buenos 
Aires,  with  instructions  that  it  should  be  delivered 
to  the  commissioners.  Subsequent  events  do  not 
indicate  that  these  protests  exercised  any  im- 
portant influence  on  the  conduct  of  the  allies. 
They  were  based,  however,  on  the  almost  unani- 
mous belief  of  the  priests  in  charge  of  the  reduc- 
tions that  it  would  be  impossible  to  carry  out 
those  provisions  of  the  treaty  which  required  the 
Indians  to  abandon  their  homes  and  fields  for 
uncultivated  and  unoccupied  lands  that  might  be 


SPANISH-PORTUGUESE  TREATY  OF  1750    79 

assigned  to  them.  In  spite  of  the  prevalence  of 
this  belief,  the  Provincial  instructed  the  Jesuits 
of  the  reductions  in  question  to  urge  their  fol- 
lowers to  obedience;  at  the  same  time,  in  writing 
to  the  king,  he  pointed  out  the  obstacles  to  the 
removal  of  the  people. 

Ill 

These  seven  reductions  were  inhabited  by 
about  thirty  thousand  Guaranis.  They  were  *'not 
fresh  from  the  woods,  or  half  reclaimed,  and 
therefore  willing  to  revert  to  a  savage  state,  and 
capable  of  enduring  its  exposure,  hardships,  and 
privations;  but  born,  as  their  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers had  been,  in  easy  servitude,  and  bred  up 
in  the  comforts  of  regular  domestic  life.  These 
persons  with  their  wives  and  their  children,  their 
sick  and  their  aged,  their  horses  and  their  sheep 
and  their  oxen,  were  to  turn  out,  like  the  children 
of  Israel  from  Egypt  into  the  wilderness,  not  to 
escape  from  bondage,  but  in  obedience  to  one  of 
the  most  tyrannical  commands  that  were  ever 
issued  in  the  recklessness  of  unfeeling  power.'" 

The  chief  Spanish  conunissioner  for  estab- 
lishing the  line  of  separation  between  Brazil  and 
the  Spanish  possessions  was  Jose  de  Carvajal, 
the  Marquis  of  Valdelerios.  Senor  Carvajal 
appointed  Jose  de  Yturriaga  as  chief  for  fixing 
the  northern  part  of  the  line.  The  other  mem- 
bers   were    Eugenio    de    Alvarado,    Antonio    de 

3  Southey,  History  of  Brazil,  London,  1810-1819,  III,  448. 


80  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

Urrutia,  and  Jose  Solano.  The  commissioners 
appointed  by  Portugal  were  Gomes  Freyre  de 
Andrade  and  Antonio  Robin  de  Maura.  They 
were  accompanied  by  a  number  of  engineers  and 
geographers.  Valdelirios  and  his  assistants 
arrived  at  Montevideo  in  January,  1752,  accom- 
panied by  Luis  Altamirano,  delegate  of  the  gen- 
eral of  the  Jesuits,  and  his  companion.  Padre 
Rafael  de  Cordova.  Padre  Jose  Barreda  was 
especially  conspicuous  among  the  persons  whose 
opinions  had  to  be  considered  by  the  commis- 
sioners. He  was  the  Provincial  of  Paraguay,  hav- 
ing previously  held  a  similar  position  in  Peru. 
He  suggested  that  since  the  treaty  of  limits  had 
been  formed  without  knowledge  of  the  difficulties 
to  be  encountered  in  its  execution,  it  ought  not 
to  be  considered  a  crime  in  the  eyes  of  the  king 
to  solicit  delay;  and  that  the  only  way  to  bring 
abount  the  emigration  of  the  Indians  of  the  seven 
reductions  was  not  to  make  undue  haste,  or  to 
substitute  violence  for  gentleness  and  persuasion. 
He  affirmed,  moreover,  that  as  the  Indians  had  the 
advantage  of  numbers  and  a  knowledge  of  the 
country,  it  was  possible  they  might  defeat  the 
united  forces  of  the  Spaniards  and  the  Portuguese, 
thus  making  it  more  difficult  to  subdue  them, 
especially  since  there  was  good  ground  for  believ- 
ing that  neither  the  force  of  reason  nor  of  arms 
would  lead  the  Indians  to  abandon  their  towns. 

Places  were  selected  to  which  it  was  proposed 
to  remove  the  Indians  from  the  seven  reductions, 


SPANISH-PORTUGUESE  TREATY  OF  1750     81 

but  at  this  point  an  obstacle  appeared  in  the 
unwillingness  of  the  Indians  to  move  to  the  sites 
selected  for  them.  They  had  been  aroused  by 
learning  of  their  proposed  expatriation,  and 
agents  were  sent  to  persuade  and  pacify  them. 
The  agents  found  in  most  of  the  towns  complete 
unanimity  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  in  opposition 
to  removal;  and  Pedro  Fernandez,  especially 
charged  with  duties  in  this  connection,  wrote  to 
the  governor  of  Buenos  Aires  that  the  difficulties 
which  had  presented  themselves  could  be  overcome 
only  by  the  sword. 

Both  Spain  and  Portugal  were  interested  in 
the  execution  of  the  treaty,  and  representatives 
of  the  two  nations  met  on  the  island  of  Martin 
Garcia  to  make  arrangements  for  uniting  their 
forces  for  this  purpose.  In  March,  1754,  a  second 
conference  was  held  at  the  same  place  to  adopt 
final  resolutions  for  proceeding  with  force  against 
the  inhabitants  of  the  reductions  who  had  assumed 
an  attitude  of  rebellion.  These  resolutions  pro- 
vided that  Gomes  Freyre  should  join  his  troops 
and  attack  the  pueblo  of  San  Angel,  while  An- 
donaegui  with  another  force  should  move  against 
the  pueblo  of  San  Nicolas.  Some  of  the  Indians 
had  at  first  been  disposed  to  migrate  peaceably, 
but  the  known  unwillingness  of  others  to  leave 
their  towns  incited  nearly  the  whole  Indian  popu- 
lation to  resistance.  In  view  of  this  state  of 
things,  the  Jesuits  sought  to  have  the  removal  of 
the  Indians  postponed  for  three  years,  hoping 


82  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

within  that  period  to  bring  the  controversy  to  a 
peaceful  conclusion.  The  immediate  removal 
demanded  by  the  Spaniards  gave  the  Indians  no 
opportunity  to  provide  for  their  convenience  and 
support  at  the  places  where  they  were  requested 
to  settle.  Moreover,  the  sites  selected  for  their 
new  towns  were  in  some  cases  swamps  or  other 
unhealthful  districts,  and  entirely  unfit  for  dwell- 
ings, while  others  were  exposed  to  invasion  by 
hostile  Indians.  The  Guaranis  naturally  objected 
to  leaving  the  places  where  they  and  their  families 
had  spent  decades,  and  where  their  houses  were 
already  built  and  their  fields  cultivated;  and  the 
attitude  which  they  assumed  toward  those  who 
would  compel  them  to  withdraw,  clearly  indicated 
that  a  peaceful  execution  of  the  treaty  was  im- 
possible. 

IV 

On  the  21st  of  May,  1754,  Governor  Andonae- 
gui  began  to  move  his  troops  toward  the  missions. 
The  unfavorable  season  and  the  lack  of  proper 
supplies  caused  many  of  his  soldiers  to  desert. 
On  the  3rd  of  October,  he  encountered  a  force  of 
three  hundred  Indians  from  Yapeyu  and  La  Cruz. 
When  asked  why  they  had  come  out  under  arms, 
they  replied  that  they  had  come  to  defend  the 
lands  of  the  missions.  Then,  for  the  third  time, 
they  were  summoned  to  obey  the  king,  and  were 
informed  that  in  case  of  refusal  they  would  be 
treated  as  declared  enemies.     This  information 


WAR    OF    THE    SEVEN    REDUCTIONS       83 

did  not  terrify  them,  for  they  appeared  in  front 
of  the  enemy's  camp,  waved  their  banners  and 
standards,  and  hurled  insults  at  the  Spaniards. 
It  was  clear  that  they  were  prepared  for  active 
hostilities  and  Andonaegui  had  to  accept  the  chal- 
lenge. 

The  clash  which  followed  this  first  encounter 
brought  disaster  to  the  Indians.  They  are  re- 
ported to  have  lost  two  hundred  and  thirty  killed, 
while  nearly  all  of  the  survivors  were  made  pris- 
oners. The  reported  loss  of  the  Spaniards  was 
one  captain  killed,  and  three  sergeants  and 
twenty-four  men  wounded.  During  these  events, 
Gomes  Freyre  was  moving  his  troops  from  Rio 
Pardo  toward  the  scene  of  disturbance.  His 
force  consisted  of  between  sixteen  hundred  and 
seventeen  hundred  men,  including  soldiers  and 
peons,  with  ten  pieces  of  artillery.  On  the  12th 
of  November,  he  received  a  message  from  An- 
donaegui, informing  him  of  the  withdrawal  of  the 
Spanish  troops,  and  indicating  the  necessity  of 
Freyre 's  return  to  his  encampment  at  Rio  Pardo. 
The  retirement  of  the  Spaniards  encouraged  the 
Indians  to  make  more  effective  preparations  for 
defense;  and  in  the  meantime  other  tribes,  par- 
ticularly the  Charruas,  were  beginning  to  make 
a  common  cause  with  the  Guaranis. 

After  the  withdrawal  of  the  Portuguese,  the 
Indians  assumed  the  offensive,  and  invaded  and 
laid  waste  the  territory  almost  to  the  camp  of  the 
enemy.    The  indecisive  campaign  was  followed  by 


84  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

a  truce,  November  18,  1754,  during  the  continu- 
ance of  which  each  party  was  required  to  keep 
within  its  own  borders.  The  Jesuits  made  use  of 
the  occasion  to  extend  their  infleunce.  The  with- 
drawal of  the  European  forces  made  current  an 
exaggerated  idea  of  the  strength  of  the  reduc- 
tions ;  for  the  misfortunes  of  Andonaegui  and  his 
troops  were  due  rather  to  the  rigors  of  the  season 
and  the  lack  of  supplies  than  to  any  effective  oppo- 
sition offered  by  the  Indians.  Neverthelss,  the 
refusal  of  the  Indians  to  hand  over  their  villages 
and  their  lands  to  the  Portuguese,  and  the  reports 
of  the  hostilities,  stimulated  the  imaginations  and 
credulity  of  the  inhabitants  of  Europe;  and  the 
enemies  of  the  Jesuits  embraced  the  occasion  to 
construct  a  remarkable  web  of  stories.  They 
affirmed  that  the  Jesuits  had  built  up  a  powerful 
state,  whose  soldiers  had  overthrown  in  battle  the 
combined  forces  of  Spain  and  Portugal ;  they  had 
plunged  into  this  conflict  with  the  desire  to  make 
themselves  independent;  they  had  crowned  one 
Nicholas  Nanguirii  as  their  king;  and  had  taken 
other  steps  to  make  manifest  their  sovereignty. 
These  tales  were  widely  believed;  Ferdinand  VI 
was  influenced  by  them  to  such  an  extent  that  he 
came  to  regard  the  Jesuits  not  only  with  lack  of 
confidence,  but  even  with  repulsion;  he  dismissed 
his  confessor,  who  was  a  Jesuit,  and  affirmed  his 
belief  that  the  Jesuits  were  the  authors  of  the 
revolt  of  the  Indians.* 

4  Bauza,  Historia  de  la  Dominacion  Espanola  en  el  Uruguay, 
II,  114. 


WAR    OF    THE    SEVEN    REDUCTIONS       85 

For  the  next  campaign  Governor  Viana,  of 
Montevideo,  was  made  second  in  command,  and 
he  was  commissioned  personally  to  visit  Gomes 
Freyre,  in  order  to  inform  him  of  the  prepara- 
tions that  had  been  made  on  the  part  of  the  Span- 
iards. The  Spanish  troops  entered  upon  this 
campaign  on  the  4th  of  December,  1755,  with  the 
design  of  uniting  with  the  Portuguese  troops  at 
Acegua;  but  on  the  6th  of  January,  1756,  Viana 
received  a  message  informing  him  that  the  Por- 
tuguese general  would  meet  him  near  the  Rio 
Negro,  and  on  the  16th  of  January  the  two  forces 
were  brought  together  at  the  appointed  place. 
Five  days  later  the  two  armies  began  their  march 
toward  the  missions. 

Extravagant  rumors  reached  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  leaders  concerning  the  number  of  men 
the  reductions  were  ready  to  put  into  the  field. 
These  rumors  affirmed  that  there  was  an  army  of 
five  thousand  men  equipped  for  the  campaign, 
while,  in  fact,  all  the  troops  ready  for  action  did 
not  exceed  three  hundred.  But  when  the  threat- 
ened towns  learned  that  the  united  forces  were 
advancing,  they  were  greatly  alarmed,  and  sent 
messengers  in  all  directions  to  arouse  the  inhab- 
itants. Thirteen  hundred  and  fifty  men  were 
gathered  in  a  few  days,  but  they  were  poorly 
equipped  and  inefficiently  armed.  Of  these,  San 
Miguel  sent  four  hundred;  San  Angel,  two  hun- 
dred; San  Lorenzo,  fifty;  San  Luis,  one  hundred 
and  fifty ;  San  Nicholas,  two  hundred ;  San  Juan, 


86  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

one  hundred  and  fifty;  and  La  Concepcion,  two 
hundred.  These  were  the  seven  reductions  that 
had  determined  to  resist  the  allied  powers  of 
Spain  and  Portugal.  Their  ignorant  and  un- 
trained leaders  gave  little  promise  of  success. 
Knowing  of  the  approach  of  the  troops,  the 
Indians  sent  messengers  to  inquire  with  what 
authority  the  European  soldiers  were  invading 
their  territory.  Viana  replied  that  they  needed 
no  license,  only  the  permission  of  the  king,  in 
whose  name  the  captain-general  of  this  province 
appeared;  and  this  intelligence  should  immedi- 
ately lead  them  to  come  and  acknowledge  obedi- 
ence; but  if  they  did  not  wish  to  do  this,  they 
would  expose  themselves  to  all  the  rigors  of  war. 
In  reply,  the  Indians  affirmed  that  they  recognized 
only  their  liberty,  which  they  had  received  from 
God,  and  also  the  lands  dependent  on  the  town  of 
San  Miguel,  which  only  God  and  no  other  could 
take  from  them ;  and  in  view  of  this  state  of  things, 
they  insisted  that  the  Spaniards  should  not  ad- 
vance farther.  They  were,  however,  informed 
that  the  allies  would  continue  their  march ;  where- 
upon the  Indians  took  leave  with  the  remark  that 
they  would  meet  on  the  road. 

Not  long  afterward  there  was  a  clash  between 
a  body  of  Indians  and  a  detachment  of  the 
Spanish-Portuguese  forces,  in  which  eight  Indians 
were  killed,  while  Viana  lost  two  killed  and  two 
wounded.  Among  the  Indians  killed  was  the 
cacique    Sepee.     One    of   the   papers    found   on 


WAR    OF    THE    SEVEN    REDUCTIONS       87 

Sepee's  body  was  a  proclamation,  or  message, 
containing  a  protest  against  the  action  of  the 
allies.  ''We  do  not  wish  the  coming  of  Gomes 
Freyre, ' '  it  affirmed, ' '  for  he  and  his  followers  are 
those  who,  through  the  work  of  the  devil,  hold  us 
in  such  abhorrence:  this  Gomes  Freyre  is  the 
author  of  many  disturbances,  and  it  is  he  who 
operates  so  wickedly,  deceiving  the  king;  and  for 
this  reason  we  do  not  wish  to  receive  him.  We 
have  failed  in  nothing  in  the  service  of  our  good 
king;  whenever  it  has  occupied  us,  we  have  com- 
plied with  his  commands  with  our  whole  will,  and 
in  proof  of  this  we  have  repeatedly  risked  our 
lives  and  poured  out  our  blood  in  obedience  to  his 
orders.  Why  does  he  not  give  Buenos  Aires, 
Santa  Fe,  Corrientes,  or  Paraguay  to  the  Portu- 
guese, instead  of  the  towns  of  the  poor  Indians, 
who  are  commanded  to  leave  their  houses, 
churches,  and  finally  whatever  they  have  and  God 
has  given  them?"  This  simple  protest  came  like 
a  plea  of  the  dead  chief  in  behalf  of  his  people, 
but  it  had  no  power  to  stay  the  ruthless  advance 
of  the  allies. 


V 


On  the  death  of  Sepee,  Nicholas  Nanguirii  was 
put  in  his  place.  This  was  the  person  referred  to 
in  Europe  as  Nicholas  I,  King  of  Paraguay  and 
Emperor  of  the  Mamelucos.    He  was  in  reality  a 


88  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

person  of  very  liniited  ability;  his  single  accom- 
plishment  was  a  little  skill  in  playing  the  violin/ 
In  his  Account  of  the  Ahipones,  Martin  Dobriz- 
hoffer,  who  was  a  Jesuit  missionary  in  Paraguay, 
and  a  contemporary  of  Nicholas  Nanguiru,  refers 
to  the  stories  about  the  "King  of  Paraguay." 
"About  the  beginning  of  the  disturbances,"  he 
says,  "one  Joseph,  corregidor  of  San  Miguel,  was 
elected  general  of  their  forces  against  the  Portu- 
guese. This  Joseph,  an  active  and  courageous 
man,  behaved  like  a  good  soldier  but  an  execrable 
general,  for  he  was  as  ignorant  of  military  tactics 
as  I  am  of  the  black  art.  On  his  falling  in  a  chance 
skirmish,  Nicholas  Nanguiru,  many  years  corregi- 
dor of  the  town  of  Concepcion,  succeeded.  Under 
his  conduct  the  war  was  poorly  carried  on;  and 
the  affairs  of  the  Uruguayans  gradually  declin- 
ing, the  seven  towns  were  delivered  up  to  the 
royal  forces."  .  .  .  "This  is  that  celebrated  Nich- 
olas Nanguiru,"  Dobrizhoffer  continues,  "whom 
the  Europeans  called  the  king  of  Paraguay,  whilst 
Paraguay  itself  had  not  an  inkling  of  the  matter. 
At  the  very  time  when  the  feigned  majesty  of 

5  Bougainville  quotes  a  letter  from  a  captain  of  grenadiers  in 
which  mention  is  made  of  Nicholas:  "Yesterday  we  likewise  saw 
the  famous  Nicolas,  the  same  whom  people  were  so  desirous  to 
confine.  He  was  in  a  deplorable  situation,  and  almost  naked.  He 
is  seventy  years  of  age,  and  seems  to  be  a  very  sensible  man.  His 
Excellency  (Bucarelli)  spoke  with  him  a  long  time,  and  seemed 
very  much  pleased  with  his  conversation. ' '  Voyage  round  the 
World,  116.  The  following  is  the  title  of  one  of  the  books  about 
Nicolas,  written  apparently  without  any  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject, except  vague  rumors:  Historie  de  Nicolas  (Nenguiru)  Boy 
de  Paraguai  et  Empereur  des  Mamelus,  A  Saint  Paul,  1756. 


WAR    OF    THE    SEVEN    REDUCTIONS       89 

the  king  of  Paraguay  employed  every  mouth  and 
press  in  Europe,  I  saw  this  Nicholas  Nanguirii, 
with  naked  feet,  and  garments  after  the  Indian 
fashion,  sometimes  driving  cattle  before  the  sham- 
bles, sometimes  chopping  wood  in  the  market- 
place; and  when  I  considered  him  and  his  occu- 
pation, could  hardly  refrain  from  laughter.'"^ 

Continuing  their  march,  the  allied  forces 
encountered  a  considerable  body  of  Indians  on 
the  morning  of  the  10th  of  February.  After  the 
officers  had  held  a  council,  the  troops  were  ordered 
to  prepare  for  battle.  The  Spanish  troops  were 
placed  on  the  right,  and  the  Portuguese  on  the 
left.  In  the  rear,  arranged  in  four  columns,  were 
the  two  hundred  carts  containing  the  baggage  and 
the  equipment.  The  line  was  finally  extended 
along  the  base  of  the  hill,  Kaibate,  the  enemy 
being  within  clear  range.  The  forces  brought  into 
this  action  by  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  have 
been  estimated  at  two  thousand  five  hundred  men. 
In  the  battle  which  ensued  the  Spaniards  lost 
three  killed  and  ten  wounded.  Among  the  latter 
was  Andonaegui.  The  Portuguese  lost  one  killed 
and  thirty  wounded.  By  reason  of  their  ineffec- 
tive weapons  and  lack  of  military  skill,  the  Indians 
were  seriously  handicapped,  and  suffered  an  over- 
whelming defeat.  The  number  of  killed  on  their 
side  has  been  variously  estimated,  the  estimates 
ranging  from  six  hundred  to  fifteen  hundred  and 
eleven.  Bauza  adopts  the  highest  number,  with 
one  hundred  and  fifty-four  prisoners. 

6  Dobrizhoffer,  Account  of  the  AMpones,  I,  27,  28. 


90  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

The  effect  of  this  encounter  was  to  break  the 
resistance  of  the  Indians.  They  had  lost  their 
principal  chiefs,  Sepee  and  Nanguirii,  and  after 
this  crushing  blow  they  had  no  competent  leaders, 
even  if  they  had  had  the  spirit  to  continue  the 
conquest.  Their  depressed  state  is  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  the  allied  forces  met  no  opposition 
in  their  forward  movement  after  the  battle.  Yet 
their  way  led  through  a  forest  and  an  unknown 
mountainous  region,  where  a  comparatively  small 
troop  of  Indians  familiar  with  the  country  could 
have  set  an  effective  obstacle  to  their  further 
progress.  Having  entered  the  territory  of  the 
reductions,  they  had  several  skirmishes  with  the 
Indians,  and  on  the  17th  of  May,  1756,  they 
entered  the  town  of  San  Miguel. 

On  entering  the  to\\Ti,  Viana,  the  Spanish  com- 
mander, is  said  to  have  been  surprised  at  its 
excellent  appearance,  and  to  have  exclaimed: 
''And  is  this  one  of  the  towns  which  we  are  com- 
manded to  turn  over  to  the  Portuguese?  The 
authorities  at  Madrid  must  be  crazy  to  destroy 
a  town  which  has  no  rival  among  all  those  of 
Paraguay."  On  the  arrival  of  the  invaders,  the 
inhabitants  of  San  Miguel  took  flight,  abandoned 
their  property,  and  spread  the  panic  to  other 
towns  through  which  they  passed. 

That  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  reductions 
considered  their  cause  hopeless  is  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  the  authorities  of  the  town  of  San 
Juan  presented  themselves  at  the  camp  of  the 


WAR    OF    THE    SEVEN    REDUCTIONS       91 

allies,  and  acknoweldged  to  Andonaegui  their  com- 
plete submission.'^  Andonaegui  pointed  out  to 
them  the  serious  consequences  that  would  result 
from  any  indication  of  further  insubordination. 
It  was  expected  that  San  Lorenzo  would  follow 
the  example  of  San  Juan,  but  as  no  message  of 
submission  was  received,  Andonaegui  detailed 
Viana  and  eight  hundred  men  to  take  possession 
of  the  town.  Setting  out  on  the  19th  of  May, 
Viana  entered  the  town  at  dawn  the  following 
morning;  he  surprised  the  inhabitants,  and  made 
a  number  of  them  prisoners,  among  whom  were 
the  priests  Limp,  Unger,  and  Henis.  Padre 
Henis,  examined  before  Viana,  made  a  vigorous 
reply  to  the  charges  that  were  brought  against 
him.  ''These  pueblos,"  he  said,  "have  cost  the 
king  nothing;  we  have  conquered  them  ourselves 
with  the  crucifix  in  the  hand.  His  Majesty  can- 
not hand  them  over  to  the  Portuguese;  and  if  I 
had  been  in  Madrid,  I  could  have  given  him 
such  information  that  this  surrender  would  not 
have  been  undertaken."*  The  positive  attitude 
assumed  by  Padre  Henis  called  forth  only  a  repri- 
mand from  Viana.  The  priests  were,  however, 
set  at  liberty,  and  measures  were  taken  to  pre- 
serve public  order,  and  to  cause  the  Spanish 
commander's  authority  to  be  recognized. 

At  this  point  Andonaegui  wrote  to  the  priests 
and  cabildos  of  the  towns  that  had  not  submitted, 

7  Bauza,  II,  135. 

8  Relacion  de  los  servicios  de   Viana,  MS,  quoted  by  Bauza, 
II,  136. 


92  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

called  their  attention  to  the  example  of  San  Juan, 
and  suggested  that  they  should  bind  themselves 
to  maintain  obedience.  This  communication  had 
the  desired  effect.  All  the  cabildos  and  corregi- 
dores  presented  themselves,  took  the  oath  of 
fidelity,  and  were  then  despatched  to  their  several 
reductions.  They  understood  then  that  their 
cause  was  lost,  and  that  it  only  remained  for  them 
to  gather  themselves  together  and  prepare  for 
emigration.  The  priests,  Balda  and  Henis,  were 
ordered  to  direct  the  march  of  the  Indians.  But 
not  all  of  the  Indians  were  disposed  to  accept  the 
fate  of  exiles  with  resignation.  Some  fled  to  the 
forests  to  resume  the  lawless  life  of  savages. 
Progress  toward  a  final  settlement  of  the  affairs 
of  the  reductions  was,  moreover,  interrupted  by 
doubts  as  to  the  outcome  of  negotiations  in 
Madrid.  Valdelirios  expected  another  general 
would  be  sent  to  replace  Andonaegui,  and  that 
new  instructions  would  be  issued  with  reference 
to  the  transfer  of  the  reductions.  Events  half 
accomplished  awaited  the  conclusion  of  diplomatic 
maneuvers. 

VI 

In  November,  1756,  the  expected  general,  Don 
Pedro  Ceballos,  arrived.  He  came  with  a  body  of 
one  thousand  men,  who  were  for  the  greater  part 
foreigners  and  vagabonds.  The  tales  that  had 
been  circulated  in  Europe  concerning  Emperor 
Nicholas  and  the  possibility  of  the  defeat  of  the 


WAR    OF    THE    SEVEN   REDUCTIONS       93 

Spanish  and  Portuguese  forces  had  made  a  pro- 
found impression  on  Ceballos,  but  he  was  soon 
undeceived  by  his  newly  acquired  knowledge  of 
the  actual  state  of  affairs.  In  January,  1757,  he 
arrived  at  the  missions,  and  the  superior  of  the 
Jesuits  went  out  to  receive  him.  ''At  San  Borja 
a  platform  was  erected  in  front  of  the  church, 
and  Ceballos,  surrounded  by  the  Marquis  of 
Valdelirios  and  the  principal  Spanish  leaders, 
received  the  declarations  of  the  multitude  that  no 
one  was  opposed  to  the  Jesuits. '  '^  This  somewhat 
theatrical  ceremony  had  no  great  significance, 
except  as  a  formal  presentation  of  the  new  com- 
mander of  the  forces.  After  this  event  Andonae- 
gui  and  Viana  departed  for  Buenos  Aires,  the 
former  en  route  to  Spain,  and  the  latter  proceed- 
ing to  resume  the  duties  of  his  office  as  governor 
of  Montevideo. 

Neither  the  government  of  Spain  nor  that  of 
Portugal  was  now  disposed  to  carry  the  boundary 
question  to  a  practical  settlement.  Portugal  had 
already  spent  fifteen  million  dollars  on  the  under- 
taking, and  the  destruction  of  Lisbon  by  the  earth- 
quake of  1755  had  discouraged  all  foreign  enter- 
prises ;  while  in  Spain  the  death  of  Queen  Barbara 
and  the  illness  of  the  king  had  paralyzed  all  the 
agencies  of  the  government.  The  commissioners 
who  had  been  charged  to  effect  the  transfer  and 
establish  the  new  boundary  were  no  longer  zealous 
in  the  execution  of  their  task;  and  the  Jesuits, 

9Bauza,  II,  141. 


94  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

after  all  their  wretched  experiences,  were  recalled 
to  take  charge  of  the  reductions." 

Other  evidence  that  the  Spaniards  no  longer 
regarded  themselves  as  hostile  to  the  Indians  of 
the  missions  may  be  discovered  in  the  fact  that 
in  order  to  be  prepared  to  resist  any  possible 
future  attacks  by  the  Indians  of  the  Chaco,  Cebal- 
los  placed  the  inhabitants  of  the  reductions  on  a 
war  footing,  requiring  military  service  from  all 
able-bodied  men  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and 
sixty. 

**Thus  ended,"  to  quote  Francisco  Bauza, 
'Hhis  famous  campaign  of  the  missions,  in  which 
the  Spaniards  fought  bravely  to  promote  the 
interests  of  the  Portuguese,  encountering  hard- 
ships and  dangers  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out 
a  boundary  treaty,  that  dismembered  their  terri- 
tory and  undermined  their  military  and  political 
power  on  American  soil.  In  few  undertakings 
have  the  officers  and  ministers  of  the  king  shown  a 
more  vigorous  tenacity;  and  would  they  had  em- 
ployed it  for  our  good  rather  than,  as  it  was,  for 
the  limitation  of  our  territorial  extension  and  of 
our  natural  advantage.  Money,  soldiers,  diplo- 
matic intrigues,  insults  and  threats  against  every 
opponent,  entreaties,  cruelties,  promises,  were 
alternative  means  brought  to  bear  to  execute  the 
boundary  treaty,  without  attaining  anything  else, 
after  seven  years  of  aggression  and  turmoil,  than 
their  withdrawal  from  the  negotiations,  disgusted 

10  Bauza,  II,  141,  142. 


WAR    OF    THE    SEVEN    REDUCTIONS       95 

among  themselves  and  returning  affairs  to  their 
previous  condition. '  '^^ 

In  the  last  years  of  the  decade  there  was  no 
prospect  of  reviving  the  interest  of  the  contract- 
ing parties  in  the  treaty  of  1750.  The  treaty  itself 
represented  a  laudable  attempt  on  the  part  of 
Spain  and  Portugal  to  establish  a  line  of  demarca- 
tion between  the  lands  of  their  American  colonies, 
but  it  was  formed  in  ignorance  of  the  conditions 
that  were  to  be  affected  by  it,  and  the  attempt  to 
execute  it  brought  satisfaction  to  nobody. 

In  1759  Charles  III  brought  a  large  measure 
of  force  and  intelligence  to  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment. He  found  that  the  treaty  had  few  or  no 
supporters  in  either  nation.  Portugal  was  con- 
vinced that  Colonia  was  more  valuable  than  the 
seven  reductions;  and  the  court  of  Spain  had 
already  anticipations  of  a  time  when  both  Colonia 
and  the  missions  would  be  counted  among  its  pos- 
sessions. Ten  years  had  brought  about  a  marked 
change  in  the  attitude  of  the  two  nations  toward 
one  another.  Neither  government  wished  the 
treaty  to  stand.  On  October  3,  1760,  the  king  of 
Spain  declared  it  '^nulo,  de  nungun  valor  para  lo 
sucesivo ; ' '  and  in  1761  an  agreement  was  reached, 
in  accordance  with  which  the  treaty  and  all  the 
stipulations  based  on  it  were  annulled.  This 
agreement  was  the  treaty  of  1761.  It  declared 
that  all  the  treaties,  pacts,  and  agreements  made 
between  the  two  governments  before  1750  should 

11  Hist,  de  la  Dominacion  Espanola  en  el  Uruguay,  II,  142,  143. 


96  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

remain  in  full  force  and  vigor  from  the  date  of 
this  last  docmnent  forward.  Both  parties  were 
expected  to  withdraw  all  persons  who  had  been 
sent  to  America  to  assist  in  the  practical  execution 
of  the  treaty.^^ 

12  The  principal  article  of  the  treaty  of  February  12,  1761,  is 
as  follows:  "Articulo  I.  El  sobredicho  tratado  de  llmites  de 
Asia  y  America  entre  las  dos  coronas,  firmado  en  Madrid  en  13 
de  enero  de  1750,  con  todos  los  otros  tratados  6  convenciones  que 
en  consecuencia  de  el  se  fueron  celebrado  para  arreglar  las  instruc- 
ciones  de  los  respectivos  comisarios  que  hasta  ahora  se  han  empleado 
en  las  demarcaciones  de  los  referidos  limites,  y  todo  lo  acordado 
en  virtud  de  ellas,  se  dan  y  quedan  en  fuerza  del  presente  por 
cancelados,  casados  y  anulados  como  si  nunca  hubiesen  existido  ni 
hubiesen  sido  ejecutados;  y  todas  las  cosas  pertenecientes  a  los 
limites  de  America  y  Asia  se  restituyen  a  los  terminos  de  los 
tratados,  pactos  y  convenciones  que  habian  sido  celebrados  entre 
las  dos  coronas  contratantes  antes  del  referido  ano  de  1750;  de 
forma  que  solo  estos  tratado,  pactos  y  convenciones  celebrados 
antes  del  ano  de  1750  quedan  de  aqui  adelante  en  su  fuerza  y 
vigor."     Calvo,  II,  350. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  EXPULSION  OF  THE  JESUITS 

I,  Viceroy  Amat  and  the  monopoly  of  alcohol,  II.  Juan 
Diaz  Herrera  and  the  revolt  in  Quito.  III.  The 
controversy  respecting  the  Jesuits.  IV.  The  decree 
of  expulsion.  V.  The  removal  of  the  Jesuits  from 
the  towns  of  Rio  de  la  Plata,  VI.  The  missionaries 
of  the  Chaco  and  the  region  about  Sierra  de  la 
Cruz,  VII.  The  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  from  the 
reductions  of  Paraguay,  VIII,  The  Jesuits  of 
Peru,  IX,  The  Jesuits  of  Chile,  X,  Their  re- 
moval, XI,  The  expulsion  from  Ecuador,  XII. 
The  Jesuits  removed  from  Bogota  and  the  other 
towns  of  New  Granada.  XIII,  Jesuits  of  the 
Llanos,    XIV,  The  Jesuits  in  exile. 


While  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  troops  were 
entering  upon  their  campaign  against  the  Jesuit 
reductions,  Manuel  de  Amat  y  Junient  landed  at 
Buenos  Aires,  proceeding  to  Chile  to  take  up  his 
duties  as  governor  and  captain-general  of  that 
dependency.  Six  years  later,  after  the  failure  of 
the  campaign  and  the  abrogation  of  the  treaty  of 
1750,  he  entered  Lima  (October  12,  1761)  as  the 
viceroy  of  Peru,  then  the  supreme  authority  in 


98  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

America  for  the  whole  of  Spanish  South  America, 
except  the  new  viceroyalty  of  New  Granada. 

Having  served  in  the  army  in  some  capacitj^ 
from  his  boyhood,  from  the  age  of  eleven,  Amat 
had  naturally  acquired  much  of  the  traditional 
ambition  of  the  old  soldier.  In  order  to  strengthen 
the  means  of  colonial  defense,  it  became  his  dom- 
inant purpose  to  organize  and  discipline  military 
forces.  Under  his  influence  a  body  of  militia  was 
formed  in  nearly  every  province  of  Peru.  At  the 
same  time  a  number  of  private  persons  of  wealth 
and  standing  in  their  communities  created  troops 
and  maintained  them  at  their  own  expense. 

In  keeping  with  his  other  military  prepara- 
tions, the  viceroy  continued  energetically  the  work 
of  construction  on  the  incomplete  fortress  of  Cal- 
lao.  He  repaired  certain  warships  and  made  them 
fit  for  service,  and  sent  arms  and  munitions  to 
Chiloe,  Valdivia,  Valparaiso,  Guayaquil,  Panama, 
and  Cartagena.  He  caused  bronze  cannon  to  be 
cast  at  Lima,  various  kinds  of  small  arms  to  be 
made,  and  transformed  the  appearance  of  the 
capital  into  that  of  a  military  camp. 

In  these  military  preparations,  the  viceroy 
appears  to  have  anticipated  an  approaching  need. 
The  monopolies  and  their  incidental  oppression 
had  already  begun  to  produce  disorder  and  rebel- 
lion. An  uprising  in  Quito,  in  1765,  indicates  that 
a  part  of  the  inhabitants  at  least  had  become  suf- 
ficiently self-conscious  to  react  under  oppression, 
or  what  they  thought  to  be  oppression.    The  pro- 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  99 

voking  cause  in  this  case  was  an  act  of  prohibition. 
It  was  decreed  that  alcohol  should  not  be  distilled 
either  in  Quito  or  in  any  of  the  provinces  subject 
to  the  audiencia  of  Quito,  except  for  the  account 
of  the  royal  treasury.  To  increase  the  funds  of 
the  royal  treasury  or  to  check  the  evils  of  drunk- 
enness were  the  two  possible  motives  for  the 
action.  But  the  king's  frequently  expressed  wish 
to  have  the  revenues  increased,  and  the  vast  sums 
he  had  drawn  from  America  in  two  hundred  years 
suggest  that  the  former  motive  was  the  more 
powerful.  The  monopoly  right  to  distill  and  to 
sell  alcohol  was  at  first  granted  to  a  private  per- 
son, in  consideration  of  a  certain  annual  payment, 
but  when  the  government  observed  what  enormous 
gains  the  monopolist  was  making,  the  privilege 
was  annulled,  and  the  right  reverted  to  the  crown. 

II 

In  1765,  after  the  monopoly  had  existed  for 
ten  years,  Juan  Diaz  Herrera  arrived  at  Quito  as 
the  agent  of  the  royal  treasury  and  administrator 
of  the  monopoly  now  in  the  hands  of  the  govern- 
ment. He  was  sent  by  the  viceroy  of  New  Gra- 
nada, who  then  exercised  jurisdiction  over  the 
province  of  Ecuador.  The  details  of  the  popular 
revolt  that  followed  his  advent  need  hardly  be 
narrated.  They  were  such  as  might  be  expected 
to  attend  the  uprising  of  an  angry  populace  tem- 
porarily in  control  of  a  city.    Placards  attached  to 


100  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

the  walls  at  the  street  corners  announced  the  pro- 
posed attack  on  the  hated  monopoly.  The  offices 
of  the  agent  were  stormed.  The  mob  smashed  in 
the  windows  with  stones,  broke  down  the  doors, 
and  rushing  in  destroyed  everything  it  encoun- 
tered. The  receptacles  of  alcohol  were  thrown 
into  the  street  and  broken  open,  and  the  intoxi- 
cated crowd  set  fire  to  the  house  to  complete  its 
destruction.  The  flames  against  the  night  sky  and 
the  half-lighted  buildings  made  a  weird  back- 
ground for  the  scenes  enacted  in  the  streets.  The 
cries  of  terrified  women  and  children  were  added 
to  the  shouts  of  drunken  rioters.  Near  midnight 
the  priest  of  the  church  of  Santa  Barbara  thought 
to  allay  the  popular  fury  by  displaying  in  the 
streets  the  holy  sacrament,  but  the  crowd  was  not 
tamed,  and  turned  with  scorn  upon  the  sacred 
objects.  In  order  to  avoid  a  sacreligious  attack, 
the  procession  retired  to  the  church  of  Carmen. 
Herrera,  the  agent  of  the  monopoly,  fled,  half- 
naked,  to  the  judges  of  the  audiencia,  and  im- 
plored their  aid.  Then,  finding  his  request  disre- 
garded, he  ran  to  the  monastery  of  San  Francisco 
and  hid  himself.^ 

Terrified  by  the  increasing  disorder,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  audiencia  appealed  to  the  Jesuits 
to  treat  with  the  rioters.  The  Jesuits,  seeking 
to  abate  the  disturbance,  promised  that  the 
monopoly  and  other  objectionable  duties  would 

1  Suarez,  Hist,  del  Ecuador,  V,  213-215;  Cevallos,  Pedro  Fer- 
min,  Resumen  de  la  historia  del  Ecuador  desde  su  orijin  hasta 
1845,  Lima,  1870,  II,  94. 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  101 

be  abolished  and  a  general  pardon  granted;  but 
the  crowd  demanded  a  confirmation  of  this  prom- 
ise by  the  audiencia.  The  first  phase  of  the  insur- 
rection closed  with  the  granting  of  this  request, 
but  the  series  of  events  attending  the  uprising 
exposed  the  weakness  of  the  government.  Only 
a  general  belief  in  this  weakness  was  required  to 
cause  a  new  outbreak  of  hostilities.  This  time 
the  rage  of  the  majority  of  the  people  was  directed 
against  the  Spaniards.  The  line  here  between 
the  Europeans  and  the  Americans  was  sharply 
drawn,  and  both  the  Creoles  and  the  mestizos 
demanded  that  the  chapetones  should  be  expelled 
from  the  city. 

From  May  until  September  the  insurgents 
dominated  the  city.  On  the  17th  of  the  latter 
month  a  communication  was  received  from  the 
viceroy  of  New  Granada  ratifying  a  decree  of 
general  amnesty  issued  by  the  audiencia  of  Quito. 
This  proclamation  was  published  in  all  the  wards 
of  the  city;  and,  in  celebration  of  this  formal 
ending  of  the  revolt,  the  buildings  were  decorated 
with  brilliant  hangings,  and  the  streets  were 
adorned  with  temporary  triumphal  arches.  The 
insurgents  assumed  the  airs  of  a  victorious  party, 
and  were  disposed  to  direct  the  action  of  the 
audiencia.  In  view  of  this  state  of  things  the 
viceroy  of  Peru  and  the  viceroy  of  New  Granada 
formed  an  agreement  to  place  a  strong  garrison 
in  Quito,  commanded  by  Juan  Antonio  Zelaya,  a 
Spanish  oflficer  of  recognized  ability  and  valor, 


102  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

then  at  Guayaquil,  holding  the  office  of  governor 
of  the  coast  district.  Zelaya  was  not  merely 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  garrison,  but 
became  also  the  president  of  the  audiencia  and 
captain-general  of  the  province.  He  took  up  the 
work  of  his  new  office  in  September,  1766,  about 
a  year  after  the  formal  end  of  the  insurrection; 
and  under  his  protection  the  Spaniards,  who  had 
been  banished,  returned  to  Quito.  Zelaya  estab- 
lished the  authority  of  the  government  in  the  city, 
and,  after  an  administration  of  ten  months,  re- 
sumed his  post  at  Guayaquil,  leaving  Colonel  Jose 
Diguja  as  his  successor.^ 

The  revolt  in  Quito  produced  a  shock  that  was 
felt  over  only  a  limited  area,  but  it  shows  that,  in 
addition  to  their  vast  wealth,  the  Jesuits  had  here 
acquired  such  a  degree  of  power  that  the  officers 
of  the  civil  government,  in  facing  a  popular  rebel- 
lion, felt  constrained  to  appeal  to  them.  This 
revolt  was,  moreover,  an  indication  of  the  attitude 
the  Creole-mestizo  party  was  destined  to  assume 
towards  the  supreme  government  in  Spain  and 
the  legitimate  authorities  in  America.  The  new 
society  undertook  here,  within  an  isolated  and 
limited  field,  to  assert  its  capacity  to  dominate 
and  direct  public  affairs.  The  expulsion  of  the 
Jesuits  in  the  following  year  did  not  restore,  as 
it  may  have  been  expected  to  do,  the  power  and 
prestige  of  Spanish  rule  in  America.  The  con- 
fiscated property  fell  ultimately  largely  into  the 

2  Suarez,  Hist,  del  Ecuador,  V,  227. 


EXPULSION   OF    THE    JESUITS  103 

hands  of  Creoles  and  mestizos,  and  gave  them  an 
enlarged  basis  of  wealth  for  their  later  enter- 
prises in  the  cause  of  emancipation.  It  loosened 
the  hitherto  firm  hold  of  Europeans  on  both  the 
material  and  spiritual  interests  of  the  colonies. 

Ill 

The  revolution  in  Paraguay  had  made  especi- 
ally prominent  the  contrast  between  the  purposes 
of  the  Jesuits  and  the  encomenderos  in  that  prov- 
ince, or  between  the  purposes  of  the  ecclesiastical 
and  the  secular  elements  of  society,  with  reference 
to  the  Indians.  The  labor  and  the  tribute  of  the 
Indians  constituted  the  basis  of  the  encomendero  's 
prosperity ;  but  in  the  reductions  the  Indians  paid 
no  tribute,  and  their  labor  was  expended  for  their 
own  advantage  or  to  increase  the  common  stock 
of  the  reductions.  The  extension  of  the  Jesuits' 
system  seemed  to  those  not  involved  in  it  to  tend 
to  curtail  secular  opportunities,  and  the  secular 
proprietors  did  not  fail  to  present  this  view  to 
the  crown.  The  Spanish  employers  of  Indians 
saw  their  supply  of  laborers  diminished  to  their 
disadvantage  as  the  Indians  of  the  reductions 
increased ;  and  the  next  logical  step  for  them  was 
to  attempt  to  break  down  the  reductions. 

Charles  III  succeeded  his  brother,  Ferdinand 
VI,  in  August,  1759,  and  with  the  cro^\^l  he  inher- 
ited the  controversy  between  the  Portuguese  and 
Spanish  colonies  in  America.    He  also  inherited 


104  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

the  war  of  the  seven  reductions,  in  which  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  Jesuits  offered  a  vigorous  resistance 
to  the  efforts  of  Spain  and  Portugal.  The  revolu- 
tion in  Paraguay  was  fresh  in  the  memory  of 
everybody,  and  the  communications  concerning 
it  that  reached  the  king,  proceeding  from  the  revo- 
lutionists, naturally  presented  the  Jesuits  in  a 
most  unfavorable  light:  they  were  hostile  to  the 
established  policy  of  Spain ;  they  were  a  growing 
power  that  threatened  the  interests  of  Spaniards 
in  America,  and  even  the  general  welfare  of  the 
state.  In  the  spirit  of  these  communications,  it 
was  demanded  that  the  activities  of  the  Jesuits 
should  be  restricted  or  their  power  destroyed; 
and  in  these  demands  the  king  and  his  ministers 
found  additional  reasons  for  their  radical  project. 

IV 

In  1766,  Charles  III  appointed  Francisco 
Paula  Bucareli  y  Ursua  governor  of  Rio  de  la 
Plata,  the  provinces  which  ten  years  later  were  to 
be  organized  as  a  viceroyalty.  The  next  year  he 
issued  a  decree  expelling  the  Jesuits  from  Spain 
and  the  Spanish  possessions  in  America.  The 
decree,  the  Real  Decreto  de  Ejecucion,  was  in  the 
following  terms:  ''Having  accepted  the  opinion 
of  the  members  of  my  Royal  Council  in  Extra- 
ordinary, which  met  on  the  29th  of  last  January 
for  consultation  concerning  past  occurrences  and 
concerning  matters  which  persons  of  the  highest 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  105 

character  have  reported  to  me;  moved  by  very 
grave  causes  relative  to  the  obligation  under 
which  I  find  myself  placed  of  maintaining  my 
people  in  subordination,  tranquility,  and  justice, 
and  other  urgent,  just,  and  necessary  reasons, 
which  I  reserve  in  my  royal  mind ;  making  use  of 
the  supreme  economical  authority,  which  the 
Almighty  has  placed  in  my  hands  for  the  protec- 
tion of  my  vassals,  and  the  respect  of  my  crown ; 
I  have  ordered  that  the  Jesuits  be  expelled  from 
all  my  dominions  of  Spain,  the  Indies,  the  Philip- 
pine Islands,  and  other  adjacent  regions,  priests 
as  well  as  coadjutors  or  lay-brothers,  who  may 
have  made  the  first  profession,  and  the  novices, 
who  may  wish  to  follow  them;  and  that  all  the 
properties  of  the  Society  in  my  dominions  •  be 
taken;  and  for  the  uniform  execution  of  this  de- 
cree throughout  these  dominions  I  give  you  full 
and  exclusive  authority;  and  that  you  may  form 
the  necessary  instructions  and  orders,  according 
to  your  best  judgment,  and  what  you  may  think 
the  most  effective,  expeditious,  and  peaceful 
method  for  carrying  out  these  instructions  and 
orders.  And  I  wish  that  not  only  the  magistrates 
and  superior  tribunals  of  these  kingdoms  may 
execute  your  mandates  punctually,  but  that  the 
same  understanding  may  be  entertained  concern- 
ing those  which  you  may  direct  to  the  viceroys, 
presidents,  audiencias,  governors,  corregidores, 
alcaldes,  mayores,  and  any  other  magistrates  of 
those  kingdoms  and  provinces;  and  that  in  re- 


106  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

sponse  to  their  respective  requests,  all  troops, 
militia  or  civilian,  shall  render  the  necessary 
assistance,  without  any  delay  or  evasion,  under 
pain  of  the  delinquent's  falling  under  my  royal 
indignation;  and  I  charge  the  provincials,  presi- 
dents, rectors,  and  other  superiors  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus  to  accept  these  provisions  punctually, 
and  in  carrying  them  out  the  Jesuits  shall  be 
treated  with  the  greatest  regard,  attention,  hon- 
esty, and  assistance,  so  that  in  every  respect  the 
action  taken  may  be  in  conformity  with  my  sover- 
eign intentions.  You  will  keep  this  in  mind  for 
its  exact  fulfillment,  as  I  very  confidently  expect 
from  your  zeal,  activity,  and  love  of  my  royal  ser- 
vice; and  to  this  end  you  will  give  the  necessary 
orders  and  instructions,  accompanying  them  with 
copies  of  my  royal  decree,  which  being  signed  by 
you  shall  be  given  the  same  faith  and  credit  as 
the  original."^ 

This  decree,  bearing  the  king's  rubric,  and 
dated  February  27,  1767,  was  sent  to  the  Count  of 
Aranda,  then  president  of  the  Council. 

With  authority  conferred  by  this  decree 
Aranda  issued  instructions  for  the  removal  of  the 
Jesuits  from  the  dominions  of  the  Indies  and  the 
Philippine  Islands.  These  instructions  were 
dated  March  1, 1767,  and  conveyed  to  the  viceroys, 
presidents,  and  governors  the  same  power  that 

3  Coleccion  General  de  las  providencias  hasta  aqul  tomadas 
por  el  gobierno  sobre  el  estranamiento  y  ocupacion  de  temporali- 
dades  de  los  regulares  de  la  Compaiiia,  que  existian  en  los  dominios 
de  S.  M.  de  Espana,  Indios,  e  Islas  Filipinas.    Madrid,  1767,  1,  2. 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  107 

had  been  bestowed  upon  Aranda  by  the  royal 
decree.  They  made  the  officials  concerned  respon- 
sible for  the  execution  of  the  decree,  and  provided 
means  for  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  missions 
after  the  departure  of  the  Jesuits.  By  these 
instructions,  moreover,  the  specific  directions 
contained  in  the  instructions  of  the  same  date, 
issued  for  removing  the  Jesuits  from  Spain,  were 
made  applicable  in  the  Indies  and  the  Philippine 
Islands  in  so  far  as  the  circumstances  of  those 
countries  permitted. 

No  one  has  hitherto  made  an  entirely  satisfac- 
tory exposition  of  the  influences  which  moved  the 
king  to  take  this  action,  but  it  was  naturally  sug- 
gested to  him  that  his  royal  prestige  might  be 
lessened  by  the  increasing  wealth,  power,  and 
presumption  of  the  Society.  Clement  XIII  wished 
to  know  the  reason  for  the  expulsion,  but  to  his 
inquiry  the  king  replied:  ''In  order  to  keep  from 
the  world  a  great  scandal,  I  shall  conceal  in  my 
breast  the  abominable  machination  which  has  been 
the  motive  of  this  severity.  Your  Holiness  must 
believe  me  on  my  word:  the  security  and  repose 
of  my  existence  require  of  me  the  most  absolute 
silence  on  this  subject."* 

On  the  20th  of  March,  1767,  Aranda  issued  a 
circular  letter,  enclosing  the  royal  decree  of  expul- 
sion and  detailed  instructions  for  carrying  out 
this  decree.  These  documents  were  addressed  to 
the  magistrates  in  all  the  places  where  the  Jesuits 

4  See  Bauz4,  Historia  de  la  dominacidn  espanola  en  el  Uruguay, 
II,  191. 


108  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

had  houses.  The  recipients  were  required  not  to 
open  them  until  a  certain  fixed  day  in  the  future, 
and  in  the  meantime  to  communicate  to  no  one 
the  fact  that  they  had  been  received.  It  was 
required  that  the  officers  charged  with  the  execu- 
tion of  the  royal  decree  should  be  assisted  by  the 
army,  and  that  care  should  be  exercised  to  take 
possession  of  the  houses  and  colleges  of  the  Jesuits 
in  the  early  morning  and  under  such  conditions  as 
would  leave  no  opportunity  for  any  member  of 
the  order  to  escape.  The  archives,  the  libraries, 
and  all  kinds  of  property,  except  the  very  few 
personal  effects  which  the  members  of  the  order 
might  retain,  should  be  seized  and  turned  over  to 
the  state.  To  Bucareli,  governor  of  Eio  de  la 
Plata,  came  not  only  his  commission,  but  also 
orders  to  be  transmitted  to  the  governor  of  Chile, 
the  president  of  the  audiencia  of  Charcas,  and 
the  viceroy  of  Peru. 


The  night  that  had  been  set  apart  for  arresting 
the  Jesuits  of  Buenos  Aires  was  made  almost 
insupportable  by  a  storm  of  hail  and  wind  and 
rain,  so  that  Governor  Bucareli,  the  troops,  and 
all  persons  who  were  expected  to  assist  in  the 
undertaking  were  obliged  to  remain  in  the  fort 
from  midnight  until  half  past  two  in  the  morning. 
At  this  hour  a  company  of  soldiers  was  sent  to 
the  college  of  St.  Ignatius,  commonly  known  as 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  109 

Colegio  Grande.  The  soldiers  were  accompanied 
by  the  governor's  secretary,  Juan  de  Berlanga, 
who  was  the  head  of  this  expedition,  and  by 
three  assistants.  Having  entered,  they  gathered 
together  the  thirty-six  Jesuits  found  at  the  col- 
lege, and  read  to  them  the  king's  order  for  their 
expulsion.  The  prisoners  were  kept  for  eight 
hours  in  the  apartment  of  the  rector,  and  were 
then  conducted  through  the  streets,  guarded  by 
the  troops,  to  the  suburbs  near  the  college  of 
St.  Elmo.  While  the  Jesuits  were  being  taken 
from  the  Colegio  Grande,  another  commission, 
supported  by  a  company  of  soldiers,  appeared 
at  the  college  of  St.  Elmo,  and  took  the  eight 
inmates  who  were  subject  to  expulsion,  and  held 
them  imprisoned  with  those  who  had  been  brought 
from  the  other  institution. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  July  13,  Bucareli  pub- 
lished an  edict  at  Buenos  Aires,  in  which  he  gave 
notice  of  the  action  that  had  been  taken  under  the 
royal  decree,  and  ordered  that  no  one,  under  pain 
of  death,  should  communicate  with  the  Jesuits  in 
any  manner  whatsoever,  or  censure  the  decree  or 
the  measures  taken  in  carrying  it  out.  By  the 
same  decree  it  was  also  ordered  that  all  persons 
owing  the  padres  anything,  or  holding  anything 
that  belonged  to  them,  should  present  themselves 
before  the  governor  within  three  days  and  declare 
their  indebtedness  and  the  article  which  they  held. 

This  unexpected  act  on  the  part  of  the  gov- 
ernor and  his  agents  startled  the  inhabitants  of 


110  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

the  city;  and  the  closing  of  the  Jesuit  church 
disturbed  especially  those  who  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  resort  to  it  for  worship  or  confession. 
The  order  prohibiting  communication  between  the 
people  and  the  prisoners  was  not  strictly  obeyed, 
and  the  governor  wrote  to  the  chief  of  the  guard, 
charging  him  under  no  pretext  to  permit  this 
order  to  be  violated,  and  requesting  him  to  exam- 
ine the  padres  one  by  one  and  take  away  from  them 
any  paper,  ink,  pens,  or  other  means  of  communi- 
cating with  their  friends  or  adherents  in  the  city. 

Montevideo  was  the  first  city  to  learn  of  the 
arrest  and  imprisonment  of  the  Jesuits  in  Buenos 
Aires.  Travelers  arriving  from  the  capital 
brought  information  of  the  execution  of  the  royal 
decree  in  that  city;  and  on  the  5th  of  July,  an 
attempt  was  made  in  Montevideo  to  transport  the 
books  of  the  Jesuit  library  to  some  other  place, 
apparently  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  turning  them 
over  to  the  government.  This  plan  was,  however, 
defeated,  and  the  next  morning  the  four  Jesuits 
in  the  city  were  arrested.  Three  of  them  were 
sent  immediately  to  Buenos  Aires,  but  the  superior 
was  held  to  assist  in  making  out  an  inventory  of 
the  property  that  was  to  be  confiscated. 

A  week  later,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning 
of  July  13,  the  troops  surrounded  the  Jesuit  col- 
lege at  Santa  Fe.  The  officers  charged  with  the 
execution  of  the  decree  of  expulsion  then  rang 
the  bell  and  called  for  the  rector,  and  on  his 
appearance  they  arrested  him,  together  with  the 


EXPULSION   OF    THE    JESUITS  111 

porter.  The  invading  party  at  once  distributed 
themselves  throughout  the  edifice,  and  gradually 
gathered  all  the  occupants  together  and  locked 
them  in  the  refectory.  Jesuit  writers  are  natu- 
rally disposed  to  emphasize  the  commotion  made 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  when  they  learned 
of  the  action  of  the  officers  in  carrying  out  the 
king's  orders.  In  this  case  it  is  reported  that  ''all 
the  people  were  excited  when  they  learned  what 
had  happened  in  the  college.  A  large  number  of 
persons  assembled  in  the  plaza;  some  hooted, 
others  wept,  and  gave  themselves  over  to  grief 
in  a  manner  to  excite  compassion;  while  others, 
having  retired  to  their  houses  on  account  of  the 
horror  caused  by  this  outrage,  bewailed  the  fate 
of  the  Jesuits  in  secret.'" 

In  the  afternoon  the  Jesuits  were  taken  from 
the  college,  and,  on  the  same  day,  after  an  exam- 
ination of  their  effects,  they  were  driven  in  car- 
riages out  of  the  city.  They  were  held  in  an  open 
field  within  sight  of  the  city  for  a  whole  day  while 
preparations  were  made  for  their  transportation 
to  Buenos  Aires.  On  this  journey  the  soldiers 
were  charged  to  prevent  any  communication  be- 
tween them  and  either  the  inhabitants  of  the  city 
or  of  the  country  through  which  they  passed. 
Santa  Fe  contributed  to  the  contingent  already  at 
Buenos  Aires  five  priests,  one  student,  and  five 
coadjutors.     The  rector  and  the  procurador  re- 

5  Coleccion  de  libros  y  documentos  referentes  a  la  historia  de 
America,  Madrid,  1904,  VII,  76. 


112  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

mained  for  the  time  being  to  assist  in  closing  up 
the  affairs  of  the  college. 

In  contemplating  the  removal  of  the  Jesuits 
from  Cordova,  Bucareli  feared  that,  on  account 
of  their  number  and  importance,  certain  difficul- 
ties might  arise  if  the  undertaking  were  left  to  the 
officials  of  the  province  or  of  the  city.  He,  there- 
fore, entrusted  the  task  to  Major  Fernando  Fabro, 
appointed  by  him  and  sent  from  Buenos  Aires, 
accompanied  by  a  detachment  of  eighty  soldiers. 
It  was  between  three  and  four  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  12th  of  July  when  Fabro  called  at 
the  door  of  the  Colegio  Maximo,  and  asked  for 
the  rector.  Here,  as  a  kind  of  pretext,  the  porter 
was  told  that  the  rector  was  wanted  to  attend  a 
dying  man.  Wlien  the  rector,  accompanied  by 
another  priest,  reached  the  door,  they  saw  that 
the  college  was  surrounded  by  soldiers.  All  the 
priests  were  then  required  to  get  up,  in  order  that 
they  might  hear  a  communication  from  the  king. 
They  were  conducted  to  the  refectory,  which  they 
found  already  occupied  by  a  large  number  of 
soldiers,  and  here  a  notary  read  the  decree  of 
expulsion  and  confiscation.  The  priests  of  the 
seminary  of  Monserrat  were  at  the  same  time 
aroused  and  brought  to  the  refectory  of  the  col- 
lege, where  the  whole  assembly  was  locked  in. 
Mattresses  were  brought  in  for  the  night,  and  were 
placed  on  the  floor,  on  the  tables,  under  the  tables, 
on  chairs,  wherever  space  could  be  found,  yet 
there  were  not  enough  to  accommodate  the  one 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  113 

hundred  and  thirty  Jesuits  who  were  crowded 
together  in  this  single  room.  For  the  day  the  mat- 
tresses were  piled  up  in  order  to  afford  standing 
room  and  to  give  the  prisoners  an  opportunity  to 
move  about. 

For  ten  days  the  Jesuits  of  Cordova  were  kept 
in  these  narrow  quarters.  On  the  22d  of  July  it 
was  announced  to  them  that  the  time  had  come 
for  them  to  depart.  Fabro  took  leave  of  them  and 
turned  them  over  to  Captain  Antonio  Bobadilla. 
At  nine  o  'clock  in  the  evening  they  were  conducted 
from  the  refectory  to  the  vehicles  gathered  for 
their  transportation.  They  took  with  them  only 
their  clothing  and  their  breviaries,  and  at  mid- 
night began  their  long  journey  to  the  port  of 
Ensenada.  When  they  halted  for  the  first  night 
nine  miles  from  the  city,  they  found  themselves 
surrounded  by  a  considerable  number  of  the  resi- 
dents of  Cordova,  who  had  come  out  of  the  city 
to  take  leave  of  them.  Some  of  these  followed  the 
train  four  or  five  days. 

The  thirty-four  carts  laden  with  deposed 
priests,  escorted  by  forty  soldiers,  and  attended 
by  drivers  and  camp-followers,  constituted  a  con- 
siderable caravan,  that  moved  over  the  monot- 
onous plain  day  after  day  for  nearly  a  month 
towards  the  capital  and  its  adjacent  port.  The 
caravan  did  not  enter  Buenos  Aires,  but  passed 
on  to  Ensenada,  leaving  the  city  on  the  left,  four 
or  five  miles  from  the  line  of  march.  Two  days 
after  their  arrival  at  the  port,  the  Jesuits  were 
embarked,  August  20,  on  the  ship  La  Venus. 


114  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

After  Cordova,  other  cities  farther  away  from 
Buenos  Aires  sent  their  quotas  of  deposed  priests 
to  be  added  to  those  already  at  the  capital  await- 
ing transportation  to  Europe.  Fifteen  were  taken 
from  Corrientes.  The  distance  of  Asuncion  and 
the  known  inclination  of  the  governor  of  Para- 
guay to  favor  the  Jesuits  left  uncertain  the  result 
in  case  he  had  to  be  trusted  with  the  execution  of 
the  royal  decree.  The  king,  therefore,  appointed 
two  persons  to  assist  the  governor,  who  were 
known  to  be  hostile  to  the  designs  of  the  Jesuits ; 
their  hostility,  however,  did  not  prevent  them 
from  upholding  Governor  Morphy  in  his  consider- 
ate and  humane  treatment  of  the  sixteen  persons 
found  in  the  college  at  Asuncion,  who  were  liable 
to  expulsion  under  the  royal  decree.  The  prison- 
ers were  held  for  three  weeks  before  preparations 
were  complete  for  their  voyage  down  the  river, 
which  was  finally  begun  on  the  19th  of  August. 

The  college  at  Tarija  was  still  farther  away 
from  the  port.  It  was  in  a  district  dependent  on 
the  audiencia  of  Charcas,  but  belonged  to  the 
Jesuit  province  of  Paraguay.  The  execution  of 
the  royal  decree  there  was  under  the  direction  of 
Victorino  Martinez  de  Tineo,  the  interim  presi- 
dent of  the  audiencia.  The  persons  marked  for 
exile,  twelve  or  fourteen  in  number,  were  started 
on  their  long  journey  of  twelve  hundred  miles 
within  twenty-four  hours  after  their  arrest,  but 
they  were  detained  a  few  miles  from  Tarija  from 
the  24th  of  August  until  the  1st  of  September. 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  115 

Padre  Asiia  died  on  the  way ;  the  rest  of  the  com- 
pany reached  Buenos  Aires  on  the  27th  of  Decem- 
ber, after  an  overland  journey  that  lasted  nearly 
four  months.  Gradually,  in  the  course  of  the  last 
half  of  the  year,  the  Jesuits  were  brought  to 
Buenos  Aires  from  their  outlying  posts,  from 
Salta,  Tucuman,  Santiago  del  Estero,  Catamarca, 
and  Eioja.  They  were  brought  also  from  the 
towns  of  Cuyo. 

Only  a  month  before  the  publication  of  the 
decree  of  expulsion,  a  license  was  granted  in 
Spain  which  authorized  the  taking  of  eighty  Jesuit 
missionaries  to  America.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  the  plan  of  banishing  the  Jesuits  was  con- 
ceived and  matured  after  the  granting  of  this 
license ;  it  is  probable,  on  the  contrary,  that  wish- 
ing to  keep  the  project  of  expulsion  secret,  the 
king  was  willing  to  let  events  take  their  normal 
or  undisturbed  course  until  the  arrival  of  the  day 
for  executing  the  decree.  Jesuit  missionaries 
were  allowed  to  embark  for  America  when  it  was 
known  that  they  would  be  arrested  and  sent  back 
to  Europe  as  soon  as  they  landed.  Those  who 
embarked  in  the  San  Fernando  in  January  were 
buffeted  by  the  winds  and  waves  for  seven  months, 
and  arrived  at  Montevideo  on  the  26th  of  July, 
1767.  Six  of  them  had  died  after  they  left  Spain, 
and  the  remaining  thirty-six,  exhausted  by  the 
want  of  food  and  the  other  hardships  of  the  voy- 
age, came  into  port  signaling  for  assistance.  Their 
requests  were,  however,  disregarded ;  and  the  next 


116  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

day  La  Rosa,  the  governor  of  the  province,  accom- 
panied by  a  troop  of  soldiers,  appeared  on  the 
vessel,  and,  having  assembled  all  of  the  Jesuits 
on  deck,  informed  them  of  the  decree  of  expulsion. 
At  the  time  of  this  visit,  a  letter  from  Bucareli  to 
La  Rosa  was  on  its  way  from  Buenos  Aires  to 
Montevideo,  ordering  that  in  case  the  Jesuits 
arrived  from  Europe  they  should  not  under  any 
conditions  be  allowed  to  land;  but  they  should 
be  conducted  at  once  to  Ensenada,  transferred  to 
the  frigate.  La  Venus,  and  returned  to  Spain. 
This  message  did  not  arrive  until  the  Jesuits  had 
been  taken  from  the  ship  and  shut  up  in  the  nar- 
row quarters  formerly  occupied  by  the  priests  who 
had  been  sent  to  Buenos  Aires.  It  is  somewhat 
difficult  to  determine  whether  this  was  a  more  or 
less  fortunate  turn  in  the  affairs  of  the  prisoners 
than  would  have  been  that  which  Bucareli 's  order 
proposed.  Towards  the  end  of  August,  twenty 
of  those  who  had  arrived  in  July  were  sent  to 
Ensenada;  seven  others  who  were  ill  were  re- 
tained some  weeks  longer  in  Montevideo,  and 
were  dispatched  for  Buenos  Aires  on  the  17th 
of  November;  but  they  were  overtaken  by  a  vio- 
lent storm  and  all  were  drowned. 

Before  the  end  of  September  a  large  number 
of  the  deposed  Jesuits  had  been  brought  together 
in  Buenos  Aires.  Some  of  them  had  been  waiting 
nearly  three  months  for  the  completion  of  prepa- 
rations for  their  transportation.  Counting  those 
who  had  recently  arrived  on  the  San  Fernando 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  117 

and  those  who  had  been  taken  from  posts  in 
the  interior  of  the  country,  the  whole  number 
amounted  to  two  hundred  and  twenty-four.  Of 
these  La  Venus  carried  one  hundred  and  fifty, 
while  the  rest  were  distributed  among  the  San 
Estehan,  El  Pdjaro,  La  Catalana,  and  El  Principe. 
This  little  fleet  sailed  from  the  port  of  Ensenada 
on  the  29th  of  September.  Its  destination  was  the 
port  of  Santa  Maria  in  the  bay  of  Cadiz.  La 
Venus  arrived  January  7,  1768 ;  El  Pdjaro,  Janu- 
ary 9;  La  Catalana,  January  17;  San  Estehan, 
February  17;  and  El  Principe,  March  9.  At 
Santa  Maria  the  exiles  were  lodged  in  the  Hos- 
picio  de  Misiones,  a  house  that  had  belonged  to 
the  Jesuits,  and  that  had  been  occupied  by  mis- 
sionaries awaiting  opportunity  to  sail  to  America. 
But  Santa  Maria  was  only  a  halting  place,  and  the 
prisoners  were  destined  to  be  passed  on  to  Italian 
territory.  Finding  themselves  here  in  the  home- 
country  after  their  experiences  in  the  New  World, 
some  of  them  sought  permission  to  remain  by 
making  known  their  desire  to  leave  the  service  of 
the  Society.  But  this  was  not  an  acceptable 
excuse,  and  they  were  informed  by  the  minister 
in  charge  of  the  expulsion  that  it  would  be  neces- 
sary for  them  to  go  to  Italy  to  obtain  seculariza- 
tion from  the  pope. 

On  the  15th  of  June  the  exiles  sailed  for  the 
island  of  Corsica,  where  were  already  assembled 
Jesuits  banished  from  the  Peninsula;  but  they 
were  permitted  to  remain  here  only  from  the  first 


118  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

to  the  thirty-first  of  August,  when  by  order  of 
the  French  they  were  obliged  to  abandon  the 
island.  After  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  settle  in 
the  republic  of  Genoa,  they  were  finally  conducted 
to  the  States  of  the  Church,  where  they  found  a 
permanent  abiding  place. 

VI 

The  Jesuits  constituting  the  first  contingent 
sent  to  Europe  from  the  port  of  Buenos  Aires 
were  taken  from  the  colleges  in  the  towns  and 
cities  of  Rio  de  la  Plata.  There  remained  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Chaco  and  Chiquitos,  and  those 
who  had  established  themselves  among  the  Guar- 
ani  Indians  in  Paraguay.  In  the  Chaco  there 
were  fifteen  missions,  or  reductions.  The  action 
of  the  officers  of  the  government  in  arresting 
the  Jesuits  of  the  colleges  was  known  in  the 
reductions  before  any  official  communication  had 
reached  them.  The  first  effect  of  this  informa- 
tion on  the  Indians  was  to  inspire  them  with  a 
desire  to  abandon  the  missions  and  return  to  their 
life  in  the  forests.  At  first  some  of  the  mission- 
aries hoped  that  the  decree  of  expulsion  would  not 
be  applied  to  them,  but  that  they  would  be  allowed 
to  remain  on  account  of  their  influence  over  the 
Indians.  But  this  hope  did  not  last  long;  for  Ser- 
geant Major  Francisco  de  Andino  soon  brought 
the  news  that  the  missionaries  were  to  be  taken 
from  the  reductions  and  transported  to  Buenos 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  119 

Aires.  When  the  Indians  received  this  informa- 
tion, they  were  greatly  disturbed,  and  renewed 
their  determination  to  abandon  their  settlements. 
They  were  persuaded  with  great  difficulty  to  re- 
turn, and  were  so  thoroughly  enraged,  as  Padre 
Pauke  observed,  that  ''if  I  with  the  help  of  God 
and  the  reasons  which  He  put  into  my  mouth  had 
not  succeeded  in  appeasing  my  Indians  and  per- 
suading them  to  bear  their  grief,  in  a  short  time 
the  city  of  Santa  Fe  would  have  been  razed  to  the 
ground. ' '° 

In  removing  the  Jesuits,  the  commissioner  and 
his  assistants  turned  the  missions  over  to  persons 
who  did  not  belong  to  the  Society.  They  made  a 
careful  inventory  of  the  property,  the  bulk  of 
which  consisted  of  various  classes  of  animals  that 
had  been  able  to  support  themselves  by  grazing 
on  the  lands  about  the  reductions.  In  making  the 
inventory,  they  found  very  little  money,  for  in  the 
isolation  of  the  reductions  most  of  the  economic 
transactions  had  been  effected  by  barter.  The 
six  missionaries  from  San  Xavier,  San  Pedro,  and 
Concepcion  were  conducted  first  to  Santa  Fe,  but 
they  were  held  outside  of  the  city  while  arrange- 
ments were  made  for  transporting  them  to  Buenos 
Aires.  This  last  stage  of  the  journey  lasted  from 
the  6th  of  September  to  the  4th  of  October,  and 
on  their  arrival  they  were  confined  in  the  quarters 
formerly  occupied  by  the  Jesuits  who  had  been 
sent  to  Europe.    The  procedure  that  was  observed 

«  Coleccidn  de  libros  y  documentos,  VII,  39, 


120  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

in  the  first  reductions,  from  which  the  Jesuits 
were  removed,  was  followed  in  the  others,  until 
each  was  deprived  of  its  leaders.  In  all  cases  the 
Indians  saw  the  departure  of  their  priests  with 
regret,  which  often  found  expression  in  signs  of 
profound  grief. 

At  Buenos  Aires  the  Jesuits  remained  im- 
prisoned for  several  months,  suffering  not  only 
serious  physical  hardships  but  also  the  grief  less 
easily  endured  of  humiliation  and  disappointed 
hopes.  Towards  the  end  of  March,  1768,  the 
frigate  Esmeralda  arrived  from  Spain,  and  on 
the  6th  of  May  she  set  sail  for  the  return  voy- 
age, having  on  board  one  hundred  and  fifty-one 
Jesuits.  This  was  the  second  expedition  from  this 
port,  and  what  the  exiles  suffered  can  be  only 
imperfectly  imagined,  even  when  we  think  of  the 
crowded  condition  of  the  ship  and  the  very  inade- 
quate preparations  that  had  been  made  for  the 
long  journey,  lasting  from  the  6th  of  May  to  the 
22d  of  August,  when  they  arrived  at  the  port  of 
Santa  Maria.  From  this  port  the  Germans  among 
the  deposed  priests  were  sent  to  their  native  coun- 
try, while  the  rest  were  transported  directly  to 
Italy,  without  being  subjected  to  the  disagreeable 
vicissitudes  experienced  by  the  members  of  the 
first  expedition. 

There  were  ten  reductions  in  the  territory  of 
the  Chiquitos,  a  region  which  now  forms  the 
southeastern  part  of  Bolivia.  The  execution  of 
the  decree  of  expulsion  was  not  entrusted  to  Gov- 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  121 

ernor  Bucareli,  but  to  the  president  of  the  royal 
audiencia  of  Charcas.  The  troops  appointed  to 
assist  in  this  undertaking  were  placed  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant  Colonel  Martinez,  who  at 
that  time  had  his  headquarters  in  Santa  Cruz  de 
la  Sierra,  and  his  special  mission  here  was  to 
resist  the  encroachments  of  the  Portuguese.  But 
in  arresting  the  priests  it  was  not  found  necessary 
to  use  the  troops,  for  the  Jesuits  were  willing  to 
promise  obedience  to  the  order  of  the  king.  They 
proposed  to  make  no  resistance,  and  even  sug- 
gested that  the  soldiers  should  be  kept  away  from 
the  reductions,  lest  their  presence  should  make 
an  unfavorable  impression  on  the  neophytes. 

A  party  of  thirteen  priests  was  despatched  on 
the  2d  of  November;  another  party  of  six  on  the 
28th  of  December;  and  on  the  2d  of  April,  1768, 
the  rest  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Chiquitos  fol- 
lowed their  companions  to  Buenos  Aires,  or  to 
Spain  by  some  other  route.  Among  the  priests 
of  these  reductions  there  were  several  whose  age 
and  infirmities  seemed  to  render  it  impossible  for 
them  to  make  the  long  journey  without  fatal  con- 
sequences. The  commissioner,  therefore,  wrote 
to  the  president  of  the  audiencia  for  authority 
to  allow  them  to  remain  in  the  country  of  the 
Chiquitos  until  the  end  of  their  lives,  which  was 
apparently  not  far  off.  This  request  was  denied 
on  the  ground  that  the  proposed  action  would  be 
contrary  to  the  royal  instructions  which  pro- 
hibited any  member  of  the  Society  from  remain- 


122  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

ing  in  the  reductions,  even  on  account  of  age  or 
infirmity.  One  of  those  for  whom  this  privilege 
was  sought  was  Padre  Chome.  When  the  request 
made  by  the  commissioner  had  been  denied, 
Chome  was  taken  from  his  bed,  placed  in  a  ham- 
mock, and  carried  by  two  strong  Indians  from 
San  Xavier  sixty  leagues  to  Santa  Cruz  de  la 
Sierra;  then  for  a  distance  of  a  hundred  leagues 
to  Cochabamba;  and  finally  over  the  desert  and 
the  rough  and  dangerous  paths  of  the  cordillera 
to  Oruro,  where  his  power  of  endurance  failed 
completely,  and  he  died  on  the  7th  of  September, 
1768. 

Another  who  was  thought  unable  to  endure  the 
hardships  of  the  journey  to  Spain  was  Padre 
Messner.  The  first  stage  of  his  journey  was  from 
his  post  to  Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra,  one  hundred 
and  twelve  leagues.  Messner  reached  Santa  Cruz 
de  la  Sierra  rather  dead  than  alive,  and  had  to 
wait  here  five  months  for  the  snow  to  disappear 
from  the  mountains.  The  continuance  of  the  jour- 
ney from  this  point,  over  the  mountains  and 
across  the  bleak  and  barren  plateau,  was  exhaust- 
ing even  to  a  person  in  robust  health,  and  was 
almost  more  than  one  could  stand  who  was  bur- 
dened with  illness  and  old  age.  It  was,  moreover, 
rendered  more  fatiguing  by  the  determination  of 
the  conductor  of  the  expedition  to  push  on  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  whatever  might  be  the  state  of 
the  way.  On  the  mountains  between  Oruro  and 
Tacna,  the  aged  priest  asked  that  he  might  be 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  123 

allowed  to  halt  and  rest.  His  petition  was  not 
granted,  but  a  man  was  detailed  to  walk  by  the 
side  of  his  horse  and  hold  him,  in  order  that  he 
might  not  fall  from  his  saddle.  They  had,  how- 
ever, advanced  only  a  short  distance  in  this  way 
when  the  aide  found  that  the  priest  was  dead. 
Another  priest  whose  course  was  almost  run  was 
Padre  Pallozzi.  He  was  taken  over  nearly  the 
same  route  as  the  others  to  Arica;  then  from 
Arica  to  Callao  and  Panama;  and  on  arriving  at 
Porto  Bello  he  found  himself  exhausted,  and  died 
there  December  21,  1768.  And  yet,  the  commis- 
sioner who  ordered  these  things  was  frequently 
accused  of  being  a  partisan  of  the  Jesuits,  and 
too  lenient  to  perform  properly  the  duties  of  his 
post. 

VII 

By  the  middle  of  May,  1768,  the  Jesuits  had 
been  despatched  from  all  the  stations  in  the  prov- 
inces of  Rio  de  la  Plata,  except  from  the  cele- 
brated Misiones  of  the  Guaranis  in  Paraguay. 
The  reports  that  had  been  circulated,  represent- 
ing these  reductions  as  usurpers  of  powers  that 
belonged  properly  to  the  king,  and  as  in  rebellion 
against  the  authority  of  the  sovereign,  led  the 
governor  to  proceed  with  great  caution.  He  sum- 
moned the  Provincial  to  Buenos  Aires,  but  later 
countermanded  the  order,  and  requested  him  to 
return  to  Yapeyu  from  Bojada,  the  present  city 


124  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

of  Parana.  He  also  requested  that  the  Indian 
corregidor  of  each  of  the  thirty  reductions  should 
be  sent  to  the  capital,  accompanied  by  thirty  of 
the  principal  caciques.  These  sixty  influential 
Indians  were  detained  about  a  year  in  Buenos 
Aires,  and  it  was  apparently  desired  that  they 
should  hold  and  express  views  that  would  justify 
the  contemplated  action  with  respect  to  the  reduc- 
tions. When  it  was  supposed  that  they  had  been 
sufficiently  turned  against  the  Jesuits,  they  were 
induced  to  write  a  joint  letter  to  the  king,  showing 
their  enthusiasm  for  the  governor,  and  expressing 
their  thanks  for  their  prospective  relief  from 
slavery.  It  has  been  suggested  that  they  would 
probably  not  have  manifested  such  satisfaction 
with  the  governor  if  they  had  kno^^Ti  that  they 
were  held  as  hostages  for  the  peaceful  conduct  of 
the  Indians  they  represented. 

The  governor  delayed  the  execution  of  the 
decree  of  expulsion  for  about  a  year,  and  during 
this  time  the  corregidores  were  induced  to  write 
other  letters  to  the  Indians  of  their  reductions, 
with  a  view  of  creating  a  prejudice  among  them 
against  the  priests.  The  position  of  the  Jesuits 
during  this  period  was  sufficiently  difficult  even 
without  the  intrigues  of  the  authorities  at  Buenos 
Aires;  for  it  was  known  that  they  were  to  be 
removed,  and  this  knowledge  tended  to  destroy 
their  prestige  with  the  Indians.  They  felt  com- 
pelled, however,  to  counsel  the  Indians  to  submit 
to  the  proposed  action  of  the  government,  which 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  125 

everybody  knew  was  hostile  to  the  system  of  the 
missions. 

Besides  the  time  required  for  carefully  pre- 
paring for  the  change,  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
secular  priests  as  substitutes  for  the  Jesuits,  was 
another  reason  for  the  delay.  Finally,  on  the  24th 
of  May,  Governor  Bucareli  left  Buenos  Aires, 
proceeding  to  Misiones  to  provide  for  the  removal 
of  the  Jesuits.  He  made  extensive  military 
preparations  for  overcoming  any  resistance  that 
might  appear  on  the  part  of  the  Indians ;  but  these 
preparations  were  proved  by  the  events  to  have 
been  unnecessary.  On  the  15th  of  July  he  arrived 
within  a  league  of  Yapeyu,  and  sent  a  commis- 
sioner to  the  reduction  to  bring  the  decree  of 
expulsion  officially  to  the  attention  of  the  provin- 
cial and  any  other  Jesuits  who  might  be  there. 
The  commissioner  in  this  instance  was  Dr.  An- 
tonio Aldao,  who  had  acted  in  the  same  capacity 
in  expelling  the  Jesuits  from  Cordova.  The 
ordinary  procedure  was  observed  here,  including 
a  notification  in  the  prescribed  form,  the  taking 
of  an  inventory  of  all  the  property  belonging  to 
the  reduction,  or  pueblo,  the  church  as  well  as  the 
workshops  and  the  warehouses.  The  objects  con- 
tained in  the  church  were  turned  over  to  the  new 
priest,  and  the  other  items  of  property  were  put 
in  charge  of  an  administrator,  one  being  appointed 
for  each  of  the  pueblos  from  which  the  Jesuits 
were  removed.  During  these  events  Bucareli 
remained  a  short  distance  from  the  pueblo,  wish- 


126  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

ing  to  enter  only  after  the  departure  of  the 
Jesuits.  ''Finally,  he  entered  the  pueblo  with  all 
the  ostentation  possible,  and  remained  there  ten 
days,  seeking  to  please  the  Indians  and  gain  their 
confidence. ' " 

From  Yapeyu,  the  first  of  the  reductions,  or 
pueblos,  in  which  the  decree  of  expulsion  was 
executed,  the  process  was  carried  to  each  of  the 
other  pueblos,  and  by  the  22d  of  August  they  had 
all  been  occupied  and  the  new  masters  installed. 
The  number  of  Jesuits  deposed  in  these  thirty 
pueblos  and  sent  down  to  Buenos  Aires  was 
seventy-eight.  After  their  arrival  in  the  capi- 
tal, they  were  held  imprisoned  until  they  were 
despatched  for  Spain,  on  the  8th  of  December. 
The  voyage  lasted  four  months,  and  on  the  7th  of 
April,  1769,  they  reached  Cadiz,  and  a  little  later 
were  transferred  to  the  port  of  Santa  Maria.  In 
Santa  Maria  they  were  confined  in  the  house  of 
the  Augustinians  and  the  hospital  of  San  Juan, 
and  they  remained  there  somewhat  more  than  a 
year.  During  this  period  the  provincial.  Padre 
Manuel  Vergara,  was  added  to  the  long  list  of 
those  who  died  going  into  exile.  In  all  the  prov- 
ince of  Paraguay  only  one  Jesuit  remained.  He 
was  Padre  Segismundo  Aperger,  who  was  left 
there  because  he  could  not  be  removed,  since  he 
was  confined  to  his  bed,  burdened  with  the  weight 
of  nearly  ninety  years,  paralyzed  and  moribund. 

7  Coleccion  de  libros  y  docwmentos,  VII,  212. 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  127 

VIII 

The  beginning  of  the  Jesuit  establishment  in 
Peru  was  made  by  a  mission  authorized  by  San 
Francisco  de  Borja,  the  third  general  of  the  order, 
on  the  suggestion  of  Philip  II.  The  chief  of  this 
mission  was  Padre  Geronimo  Ruiz  del  Portillo. 
The  eight  other  members  were  drawn  from  the 
four  Jesuit  provinces  of  Spain.  They  embarked 
at  San  Lucar  on  the  2d  of  November,  1567;  one 
of  them  died  at  Panama;  and  the  survivors 
entered  Lima  on  the  1st  of  April,  1568,  bearing 
the  royal  decree  providing  for  the  settlement  of 
the  order  in  Peru.  The  Jesuit  province  of  Peru 
at  that  time,  with  Portillo  as  the  first  provincial, 
comprehended  the  whole  of  South  America.  The 
members  of  the  mission  were  received  by  the 
Dominicans  and  lodged  in  their  monastery.  With 
assistance  rendered  by  the  government  and  pri- 
vate donations,  they  proceeded  at  once  to  the 
constuction  of  buildings  immediately  needed,  and 
planned  for  the  foundation  of  their  permanent 
church.  The  corner  stone  of  this  edifice  was  laid 
by  Archbishop  Loayza.  Other  Jesuits  arrived  a 
few  months  after  Portillo 's  mission,  and,  a  college 
having  been  organized,  the  people,  in  enthusiasm 
over  the  new  institution,  gave  abundantly  of  their 
wealth  for  its  support.  The  enthuisasm  mani- 
fested itself  not  only  in  prompting  extensive  gifts 
but  also  in  moving  persons  to  adopt  the  sotana. 
The  first  of  these  was  Pedro  Mejia,  a  member  of 


128  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

the  audiencia.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years,  all 
of  the  principal  cities  became  the  seats  of  insti- 
tutions founded  by  the  Jesuits.  In  1576  the 
historian  Jose  Acosta  became  provincial,  succeed- 
ing Portillo,  whom  he  sent  to  Potosi,  to  found  a 
college  in  that  city,  and  make  it  the  center  of 
missionary  efforts. 

Among  the  early  colleges  were  those  founded 
in  Huancavelica,  Guamanga,  and  Cuzco.  Besides 
the  college  of  Cuzco  founded  for  the  instruction 
of  sons  of  Indian  chiefs,  there  was  another,  that 
of  San  Bernardo,  designed  for  the  sons  of  the  con- 
quistadores,  devoted  to  the  teaching  of  theology, 
philosophy,  Latin,  rhetoric,  and  morals.  The  uni- 
versity that  was  later  developed  from  this  insti- 
tution petitioned  the  king  for  the  privilege  of 
granting  degrees  to  persons  who  had  studied 
elsewhere,  but  this  was  denied,  and  authority 
conferred  to  grant  degrees  only  to  persons  who 
had  studied  in  a  Jesuit  college. 

In  Peru  as  well  as  elsewhere  the  Jesuits  pur- 
sued the  worldly  path  in  accumulating  riches. 
They  sought  gifts  and  inheritances;  associated 
themselves  with  persons  of  fortune;  used  means 
of  persuasion  that  only  religious  guides  are  in 
a  position  to  apply;  acquired  vast  estates,  and 
made  their  products  the  material  of  mercantile 
operations ;  transferred  large  sums  to  Europe  to 
assist  members  of  the  order  in  their  designs  to 
dominate  governments;  imposed  their  influence 
on  persons  of  authority  in  both  church  and  state ; 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  129 

and  introduced  into  public  affairs  the  power  of 
accumulated  wealth.  The  other  side  of  the  shield 
bears  a  record  of  their  devotion  to  the  welfare 
of  the  Indian,  their  opposition  to  the  merciless, 
greed-prompted  cruelty  of  the  encomenderos,  and 
their  varied  productive  industry  that  might  have 
been  a  beneficent  example  to  a  people  disposed 
to  put  wealth-seeking  adventure  and  homely 
indolence  above  persistent  and  systematic  labor. 
On  the  20th  of  August,  1767,  the  viceroy  of 
Peru  received  from  the  governor  of  Eio  de  la 
Plata  a  letter  enclosing  documents  relating  to  the 
expulsion  of  the  Jesuits.  Among  these  was  an 
autograph  letter  from  the  king,  commanding  the 
viceroy  to  obey  and  carry  out  orders  that  the 
Count  of  Aranda  might  communicate  to  him  in 
the  king's  name.  The  viceroy  was,  moreover, 
authorized  to  use  the  military  force  if  found  to 
be  necessary,  as  it  might  be  employed  in  case  of 
a  rebellion.  The  8th  of  September  was  fixed  as 
the  date  for  the  execution  of  the  decree.  In 
taking  possession  of  the  various  houses  or  insti- 
tutions of  the  Jesuits,  essentially  the  same  pro- 
cedure was  observed  as  in  the  execution  of  the 
decree  in  other  parts  of  South  America.  The 
members  of  the  order  were  arrested  in  their 
institutions,  and  provisional  administrators  were 
put  in  possession  of  the  confiscated  property. 
Mounted  police  patrolled  the  streets  to  prevent 
curious  or  malicious  groups  of  persons  from  caus- 
ing disturbance.     The  prisoners  were  conducted 


130  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

in  carriages  under  escort  from  their  several 
houses,  and  assembled  in  the  monastery  of  St. 
Paul;  from  Pisco,  lea,  Huancavelica,  and  Gua- 
manga,  they  were  taken  to  Lima ;  but  from  Cuzco, 
Arequipa,  and  Puno  they  were  embarked  at  a  port 
farther  towards  the  south. 

One  of  the  items  in  the  inventory  of  the  con- 
fiscated property  of  the  Jesuits  in  Lima  was  a 
body  of  5200  slaves.  The  value  of  haciendas,  or 
estates,  was  approximately  a  million  pesos,  but 
by  far  the  largest  item  appears  to  have  been  the 
credits  and  the  gold  and  silver.  In  November, 
1768,  a  bureau  was  created  to  take  charge  of  this 
property,  at  least  such  of  it  as  had  not  been  con- 
sumed in  maintaining  and  transporting  the  pris- 
oners, or  had  not  been  sent  to  the  king.  The  first 
of  these  items  has  been  set  down  at  500,000 
pesos,  and  the  second  at  800,000.  Much  of  what 
remained  passed  to  other  organizations;  the 
libraries  went  to  the  university;  the  numerous 
churches  in  Lima  and  other  towns  became  hospi- 
tals, prisons,  schools,  or  places  of  retirement  for 
pious  persons.  Many  of  the  sacred  vases,  orna- 
ments, relics,  and  jewels  had  a  destination  that 
has  not  been  recorded.* 

8  On  the  Jesuits  in  Peru,  see  Mendiburu,  1,  230-237,  257-267, 
293-300;  VI,  278,  525-536,  614-618,  giving  a  list  of  the  Jesuits 
expelled. 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  131 


IX 

During  the  one  hundred  and  seventy-four 
years  of  their  residence  in  Chile,  the  Jesuits  had 
attained  preeminence  among  the  religious  orders 
not  only  for  their  intellectual  qualities,  but  also 
for  their  worldly  acquisitions.  They  had  acquired 
prestige  as  teachers  of  youth ;  they  were  the  most 
noted  preachers;  and  they  possessed  more  exten- 
sive libraries  than  the  other  orders.  They  had 
gained  great  wealth  by  donations  from  the  gov- 
ernment and  from  private  persons. 

The  desire  to  be  recognized  as  a  founder  of  a 
Jesuit  house  or  college  or  church  furnished  one 
of  the  motives  for  making  donations  to  the  order. 
Domingo  Madureira  Monterroco,  in  1651,  offered 
to  give  the  Jesuits  the  sum  of  seventeen  thousand 
dollars  within  a  period  of  twelve  years,  but  he 
determined  to  pay  a  much  larger  sum  within  a 
shorter  period.  The  property  conveyed,  includ- 
ing slaves,  amounted  to  forty  thousand  dollars. 
This  donation  secured  for  him  the  distinguished 
honor  of  being  buried  under  the  principal  altar 
of  the  church,  and  of  obtaining  the  title  of  founder, 
although  the  church  was  built  fifty  years  earlier.^ 

In  1767,  besides  their  urban  property  in  the 
various  cities,  the  Jesuits  owned  more  than  fifty 
haciendas,  or  estates,  and  almost  all  of  them  were 
the  richest  and  most  productive  lands  in  the  king- 

9  Barros  Arana,  Obras  completas,  Santiago  de  Chile,  1908-1911, 
X,  60. 


132  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

dom.  These  were  abundantly  equipped  with  im- 
plements, provided  with  live  stock,  and  amply- 
supplied  with  laborers,  including  twelve  hundred 
slaves. 

Although  the  beginnings  of  the  great  wealth 
of  the  Jesuits  were  derived  from  donations,  yet 
their  wealth  was  greatly  increased  by  industries 
under  an  especially  wise  and  skilful  management. 
By  raising  cattle  on  their  estates,  and  establish- 
ing slaughter-houses,  and  supplying  retail  shops 
controlled  by  themselves,  they  exercised  a  prac- 
tical monopoly  over  an  important  element  of  food. 
The  vast  quantities  of  grain  grown  on  the  estates 
of  the  Jesuits  was  in  part  exported  to  Peru,  and 
in  part  sent  to  their  mills  and  converted  into  flour 
for  the  Chilean  market.  Producing  in  many 
departments  of  industry  on  a  large  scale  and  with 
a  large  number  of  slaves  as  laborers,  they  were 
able  to  control  the  market  in  many  instances,  and 
fix  the  prices  independently,  prices,  too,  that 
might  eliminate  competition.  They  manufactured 
lime,  and  supplied  it  to  the  government  for  use 
in  constructing  fortresses.  The  most  important 
bakeries  in  the  capital  were  in  their  hands.  They 
controlled  the  trade  in  drugs  and  medicines.  They 
had  shipyards,  where  they  built  small  vessels; 
and  extensive  potteries  where  they  manufactured 
large  quantities  of  the  ware  used  by  the  common 
people.  These  industries  were  usually  directed 
by  the  lay  brothers,  among  whom  there  were 
sometimes  men  of  special  technical  skill,  notably 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  133 

architects,  who  found  ample  employment  in  the 
construction  of  churches  and  other  buildings 
needed  for  the  various  purposes  of  the  order.^'' 

The  Jesuits,  like  the  other  orders,  were 
ambitious  to  have  a  large  number  of  houses. 
Barros  Arana  remarked  that  one  might  suppose 
that  they  would  have  been  satisfied  in  possessing 
in  Santiago  alone  three  colegios,  or  houses  of 
residence,  besides  villas,  farms,  and  estates  in  the 
suburbs,  where  they  had  established  different 
industries;  but  instead  of  being  satisfied  with 
these,  they  wished  to  have  a  monastery  (convento) 
in  each  ward  of  the  town."  They  had  also  the 
worldly  habit  of  trying  to  evade  the  customs  laws. 
Under  the  freedom  which  they  enjoyed  as  ecclesi- 
astics, they  caused  many  articles  to  pass  in  or 
out  of  the  colony  freely,  on  which  a  legitimate 
customs  charge  was  due.^^ 

The  Jesuit  establishments  of  Chile  constituted 
a  single  province,  but  prior  to  1619  they  formed  a 
vice-province  dependent  on  the  superior  house  at 
Cordova  del  Tucuman.  At  the  head  of  the  prov- 
ince stood  the  provincial.  Within  the  province 
there  were  eleven  colegios  and  about  twenty 
houses  of  residence.     Each  of  these  institutions 

10  Barros  Arana,  Obras  completas,  X,  120-126;  Hist,  de  Chile, 
VI,  cap.  XI;  Barros  Arana,  in  his  essay  on  the  Biquezas  de  los 
antiguos  Jesuitas,  has  given  the  names  of  many  of  the  larger 
estates,  but  these  names  signify  nothing  in  the  local  geography 
of  Chile,  since  these  estates  have  been  divided  and  their  parts 
appear  under  new  names.     Obras  completas,  X,  118. 

11  Ohras  completas,  X,  73. 

12  Obras  completas,  X,  127. 


134  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

had  its  independent  administration,  with  its  pecu- 
liar estates  and  other  property;  and  each  had  a 
superior  charged  with  providing  for  its  needs, 
and  with  caring  for,  and  developing,  its  material 
interests. 

The  policy  carried  out  by  the  Jesuits  required 
payment  for  their  services.  Their  missions  were 
supported  by  the  bishops  or  by  subventions  from 
the  crown.  Instruction  in  their  colleges  was  paid 
for  by  private  persons,  and  the  seminary  estab- 
lished at  Chilian  for  teaching  Indians  received 
annually  one  hundred  and  twenty  pesos  for  each 
of  the  sixteen  Indian  pupils.  From  whatever 
source  derived,  the  funds  collected  went  into  the 
coffers  of  the  society,  and  the  individual  members 
seldom  if  ever  engaged  in  affairs  on  their  own 
account.  The  accumulated  wealth  of  the  society 
enabled  it  to  carry  on  imporant  branches  of  indus- 
try, and  thereby  to  augment  their  riches  and  to 
increase  their  prestige  in  worldly  affairs.  By  thus 
producing  on  a  large  scale,  they  made  the  small 
producers  feel  the  inconvenience  of  the  dominat- 
ing influence  of  a  great  corporation;  and  by  this 
they  provoked  an  opposition  that  wished  their 
doAvnfall.  Their  standing  was,  moreover,  affected 
by  the  independent  spirit  of  the  second  half  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  This  spirit  antagonized 
the  doctrine  of  absolute  obedience  that  entered 
into  the  basis  of  the  Jesuit  discipline. 

In  the  early  years  of  their  work  in  South 
America,  the  Jesuits  were  moved  by  a  desire  to 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  135 

correct  the  abuses  of  the  governor,  the  corregi- 
dores,  the  encomenderos,  and  all  other  persons 
having  power  over  the  Indians.  By  their  protests 
and  their  petitions  to  the  higher  authorities,  they 
necessarily  brought  themselves  into  open  conflict 
with  the  secular  authorities  in  the  kingdom,  on 
whom  the  Indians  were  immediately  dependent. 
When  the  Jesuit  preached  against  the  abuses  of 
the  encomendero,  the  encomendero  in  turn  with- 
held his  contribution  to  the  order.  The  corregi- 
dor  resented  any  interference  with  his  plan  of 
spoiling  the  Indians  in  his  district ;  and  thus  very 
early  a  breach  was  made  between  the  Jesuits  and 
the  secular  proprietors.  This  had  only  to  be 
developed  in  order  to  bring  it  to  the  attention  of 
the  government. 


Before  executing  Aranda's  order  for  the 
expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  from  Rio  de  la  Plata, 
Governor  Bucareli  sent  the  papers  designed  for 
Chile  to  Governor  Guill  y  Gonzaga.  These  docu- 
ments reached  Santiago  on  the  7th  of  August, 
1767.  Guill  y  Gonzaga  was  greatly  embarrassed  by 
these  orders  and  the  unusual  manner  of  their  com- 
munication. "Weak  in  character,  ill,  fanatically 
devoted  to  the  church,  a  decided  partisan  of  the 
Jesuits,  among  whom  he  had  sought  his  confessor 
and  spiritual  counsellor,  he  was  nevertheless 
obliged  to  carry  out  against  them  a  rigid  and 


136  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

severe  order  which  antagonized  his  beliefs  and 
his  most  firmly  grounded  sentiments.""  The 
governor  was  authorized,  in  case  the  Jesuits 
should  offer  resistance,  to  use  such  force  as  might 
be  necessary  to  procure  an  immediate  execution 
of  the  decree.  Although  knowledge  of  the  orders 
of  the  king  and  of  the  instructions  of  Aranda  was 
kept  from  the  people,  yet  when  it  was  seen  that 
the  troops  were  preparing  for  action  a  rumor 
became  current  that  they  were  to  be  used  against 
the  Jesuits.  Precautions  were  also  taken  to  pre- 
vent the  Jesuits  from  escaping  from  the  country. 
Sentinels  were  placed  in  the  passes  of  the  Andes, 
and  the  two  ships  in  the  harbor  of  Valparaiso 
were  ordered  not  to  leave  port  without  the  gov- 
ernor's permission;  and  the  governor  sent  sealed 
instructions  to  his  subordinates  throughout  the 
colony.  These  instructions  were  not  to  be  opened 
before  a  prescribed  date.  The  26th  of  August,  a 
few  hours  before  dawn,  was  the  time  fixed  for 
carrying  out  the  decree  of  expulsion  in  all  parts 
of  Chile.  The  first  house  of  the  Jesuits  visited 
in  Santiago  by  Juan  de  Balmaseda,  acting  as 
commissioner  for  the  government,  was  the  Colegio 
Maximo  de  San  Miguel,  which  occupied  the  pres- 
ent site  of  the  palace  of  Congress.  Sentinels  were 
placed  at  all  of  the  doors,  and  the  commissioner 
then  presented  himself  at  the  principal  entrance, 
gave  three  heavy  strokes  on  the  door,  and  ordered 
in  the  name  of  the  king  that  the  door  should  be 

13  Barros  Arana,  Eist.  de  Chile,  VI,  268. 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  137 

opened  without  delay.  The  rector  of  the  college, 
Francisco  de  Madariaga,  received  the  commis- 
sioner respectfully,  offered  no  opposition  to  the 
execution  of  the  royal  order,  and  immediately 
called  all  the  other  officers  of  the  college  to 
assemble  in  the  chapel.  There  were  eighty-two  of 
them.  The  decree  of  expulsion  having  been  read, 
the  rector  handed  to  Balmaseda  the  keys  of  the 
house,  which  gave  him  access  to  all  the  property, 
books  and  papers  of  the  college.  In  the  course 
of  the  forenoon  the  Jesuits  from  the  other  estab- 
lishments in  the  city  and  from  neighboring  estates 
arrived  and  were  added  to  those  who  at  the  college 
had  already  been  placed  under  arrest.  Soldiers 
were  stationed  not  only  in  the  streets  about  the 
building,  but  they  guarded  also  the  several  en- 
trances, and  in  the  building  itself  kept  watch  at 
the  doors  of  the  apartments  occupied  by  the  rector 
and  the  other  members  of  the  order. 

At  other  points  in  Chile  where  there  were 
Jesuits,  the  royal  decree  was  carried  out  with  the 
same  severity  and  at  practically  the  same  hour. 
From  the  northern  and  the  southern  districts, 
during  the  next  few  weeks,  the  Jesuits  were  taken 
to  Valparaiso,  and  held  there  under  guard  await- 
ing transportation  to  Europe.  The  fourteen  mem- 
bers of  the  order  and  three  coadjutors  in  the 
province  of  Cuyo,  as  already  indicated,  were  sent 
to  Buenos  Aires  to  be  added  to  those  gathered 
there  from  the  provinces  of  Rio  de  la  Plata. 
Although  the  removal  of  the  Jesuits  from  their 


138  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

places  in  Chile  caused  serious  regrets  and  lamen- 
tations among  a  very  large  part  of  the  inhabitants, 
yet  no  resistance  was  made  to  the  authorities 
commissioned  to  execute  the  king's  decree. 

The  first  step  in  this  remarkable  undertaking 
was  to  arrest  the  Jesuits  of  Chile  and  to  bring 
them  into  the  hands  of  the  governmental  authori- 
ties. It  then  devolved  upon  the  governor  to  find 
some  means  of  transporting  them  to  Europe.  The 
governor's  first  project  was  to  make  use  of  a 
vessel,  El  Rosario,  then  lying  in  the  harbor  of 
Valparaiso;  but  on  account  of  difficulties  raised 
by  the  owner,  this  plan  had  to  be  abandoned. 
Finally,  by  a  letter  from  the  viceroy  of  Peru,  the 
governor  was  informed  that  a  warship,  El  Peru- 
ano,  would  arrive  at  Valparaiso  at  the  end  of 
October,  and  that  Jesuits  might  be  embarked  on 
this  vessel  and  taken  around  Cape  Horn  to  their 
destination.  In  the  meantime  the  task  of  assem- 
bling the  exiles  at  the  port  remained  to  be  com- 
pleted. In  Santiago  there  were  one  hundred 
marked  for  deportation.  At  two  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  23d  of  October,  these,  under  the 
direction  of  the  corregidor,  Luis  Manuel  de 
Zanartu,  were  marched  through  the  dark  and 
silent  streets  of  the  city  to  the  suburbs,  where 
horses  had  been  brought  together  for  their  use 
on  the  journey  to  the  coast.  They  arrived  in  Val- 
paraiso after  a  ride  of  eight  days.  Here  they 
found  themselves  united  with  other  members  of 
the  order,  who  had  been  brought  in  from  other 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  139 

parts  of  Chile,  making  in  all  a  company  of  about 
three  hundred  persons.  A  few  of  the  Jesuits  of 
Santiago  had  been  left  in  the  city  on  account  of 
age  and  sickness,  and  seven  had  escaped  on  the 
journey  to  Valparaiso. 

The  ship,  El  Peruana,  expected  at  the  end  of 
October,  did  not  arrive  in  Valparaiso  until  the 
30th  of  November.  There  were  on  board  five 
hundred  persons,  of  whom  one  hundred  and 
eighty-one  were  Jesuits  expelled  from  Peru." 
The  order  of  the  viceroy  provided  that  the  ship 
should  not  remain  at  Valparaiso  more  than  three 
days  for  embarking  the  Jesuits  of  Chile.  But  it 
was  found  to  be  necessary  to  remain  in  port  for 
a  much  longer  period.  The  vessel  needed  repairs ; 
about  one  hundred  of  the  Jesuits  brought  from 
Peru  had  not  suitable  clothing,  and  a  new  supply 
had  to  be  obtained  in  Chile ;  and  the  food  provided 
for  the  voyage  was  inadequate  and  unfit  for  use. 
It  was  found,  moreover,  that  the  ship  could  receive 
only  a  few  persons  in  addition  to  those  who  had 
embarked  on  it  at  Callao.  Five  of  those  who  had 
arrived  from  the  north  had  to  be  left  at  Valparaiso 
on  account  of  serious  illness,  and  place  was  found 
for  only  twenty-four  of  the  three  hundred  Jesuits 
in  Chile.  The  rest  were  left  in  Valparaiso;  and 
early  in  January,  1768,  El  Peruana  set  sail  on 
her  long  voyage  to  Europe.  One  of  those  left 
behind   wrote:   "We   flattered   ourselves   always 

14  A  list  of  the  Jesuits  expelled  from  Peru  in  1767  is  given  in 
Mendiburc,  VI,  614-618. 


140  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

with  the  hope  that  the  king  would  again  regard  us 
with  favor,  and  permit  us  to  remain  in  our  former 
state;  we  prayed  without  ceasing;  we  directed 
ourselves  now  to  the  Holy  Virgin,  now  to  our 
blessed  founder  and  to  other  saints.  But  our 
prayers  were  not  heard.  As  there  was  no  other 
Spanish  ship  in  the  port,  we  were  embarked  at 
the  beginning  of  Lent  in  three  Chilean  vessels  and 
taken  to  Lima.  "^'^  Those  who  had  been  left  at 
different  points  in  Chile  for  various  reasons,  were 
in  the  course  of  the  following  months  deported,  so 
that  in  1772  the  governor  was  able  to  report  to 
Aranda  that  no  Jesuit  remained  within  the  limits 
of  the  territory  under  his  jurisdiction.  Of  those 
who  were  sent  from  Chile  to  Lima,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  were  shipped  to  Italy  by  way  of  Cape 
Horn,  and  the  rest  went  by  way  of  Panama. 

The  historians  Olivares  and  Molina  were 
among  the  Jesuits  sent  from  Chile  to  Peru  to  be 
embarked  for  Europe.  After  some  months  spent 
in  Lima,  they  sailed  from  Callao  on  the  7th  of 
May,  and  arrived  in  Cadiz  on  the  7th  of  December, 
1768,  whence  they  were  taken  to  Italy.  Olivares, 
who  was  more  than  ninety  years  of  age,  resided 
in  Imola,  while  Bologna  became  the  residence  of 
Molina.'' 

The  exiles  from  Chile,  as  well  as  those  from 
Rio  de  la  Plata,  received  from  the  Spanish  crown 

15  Quoted  By  Barros  Arana,  VI,  285. 

1"  See  Coleccion  de  liistoriadores  de  Chile,  VII,  Introduction  to 
Olivares'  Historia,  XIII;  Amunategui,  Miguel  Luis,  Los  Pre- 
cursores  de  la  independencia  de  Chile,  Santiago,  1870-1872,  I, 
cap.  VI,  Sec.  XVII. 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  141 

an  annual  pension  of  one  hundred  dollars,  under 
conditions  similar  to  those  that  had  been  imposed 
upon  Jesuits  expelled  from  other  parts  of  Spanish 
territory. 

XI 

The  order  requiring  the  expulsion  of  the 
Jesuits  from  Ecuador  reached  the  hands  of  Presi- 
dent Jose  Diguja  as  a  sealed  document  to  be 
opened  eight  days  after  its  reception.  Suspect- 
ing the  nature  of  the  document,  Diguja  had  pre- 
pared for  its  execution  without  exciting  a  tumult 
on  the  part  of  the  people,  and  for  its  execution 
in  all  parts  of  the  presidency  at  the  same  time. 
There  were  then  Jesuits  in  Quito,  Latacunga, 
Ambato,  Riobamba,  Guayaquil,  Cuenca,  Loja,  and 
Ibarra.  To  the  province  of  Quito  belonged  the 
colegios  of  Buga,  Pasto,  Popayan,  and  Panama; 
and,  moreover,  the  missions  of  Maynas  and  those 
of  the  territory  of  the  Isthmus  of  Darien. 

At  four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  20th  of 
August,  the  president  caused  the  Jesuits  of  the 
colegio  of  Quito  to  be  assembled  and  the  royal 
order  to  be  read  to  them.  At  the  same  time  he 
declared  them  prisoners,  and  forbade  them  to 
communicate  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  town.  It 
was  determined  that  all  of  the  Jesuits  of  the  prov- 
ince should  be  assembled  at  Guayaquil.  The 
president  treated  them  with  great  consideration; 
caused  clothing  to  be  prepared  for  them;  and 
organized   accommodations   for  them   along  the 


142  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

route  to  the  port.  Deguja  ordered  seven  hundred 
beasts  of  burden  to  be  gathered  at  Quito  to  trans- 
port the  Jesuits  and  their  effects  to  the  coast. 
The  gathering  of  the  mules,  the  leave-taking  of 
the  faithful,  and  the  long  procession  over  the 
tableland  formed  a  striking  scene. 

The  Jesuits  entered  upon  the  march  in  three 
divisions.  The  third  division  was  composed  of 
the  officials  who  had  remained  to  transfer  the 
property  to  the  state.  The  three  divisions  em- 
barked for  Panama  respectively  on  the  17th  and 
25th  of  September  and  the  3d  of  October.  A  few 
who  were  ill  and  the  procuradores  sailed  in 
November.  Aranda  disapproved  of  the  action  of 
the  president  in  leaving  six  Jesuits  in  Quito,  and 
they  were  removed  from  the  city  on  the  9th  of 
Sepember,  1772.  These  were  very  old  or  blind  or 
ill,  and  the  president  caused  them  to  be  carried  on 
stretchers.  With  their  removal  the  expulsion  was 
complete.  The  whole  number  expelled  from 
Ecuador  was  one  hundred  and  eighty-two." 

XII 

Shortly  before  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits, 
the  viceroy  of  New  Granada,  Jose  Solis  Folch  de 
Cardona,  laid  aside  his  worldly  interests,  and 
devoted  his  attention  to  acts  of  charity.  On  one 
occasion  he  sent  the  materials  for  an  elaborate 
dinner  to  a  hospital  for  the  insane  that  was  in 

17  A  nearly  complete  list  of  the  Jesuits  expelled  from  Ecuador 
is  given  in  Suarez,  Historia  del  Ecuador,  V,  233-239. 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  143 

charge  of  friars;  and  later,  visiting  the  institu- 
tion, he  asked  one  of  the  inmates  if  he  had  dined 
well,  and  received  this  reply:  ''Senor  Viceroy, 
what  I  can  say  is  that  the  friars  have  dined  like 
locos,  and  the  locos  like  friars."  He  gave  his 
property  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor,  and  on  the 
24th  of  February,  1761,  he  applied  for  admission 
to  the  Franciscan  monastery  in  Bogota.  In 
''abandoning  the  world,"  he  took  the  name  of 
Jose  de  Jesus  Maria.  He  continued  here  his 
acetic  regime  until  his  death,  April  27,  1770.^® 

The  successor  of  Solis  as  viceroy  of  New 
Granada  was  Pedro  Mesia  de  la  Zerda,  who 
assumed  the  duties  of  his  oflBce  in  January,  1761. 
The  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  occurred  during  his 
administration.  The  viceroy  received  a  note  from 
the  king,  on  the  7th  of  July,  1767,  ordering  the 
other  documents  to  be  opened  on  the  eve  of  the 
day  fixed  for  the  expulsion.  This  day  was  the 
1st  of  August.  On  the  31st  of  July,  the  Society 
celebrated  the  fiesta  of  Ignacio  de  Loyola,  with  all 
the  pomp  which  the  wealth  of  the  Jesuits  made 
possible.  The  benediction  of  the  preacher  con- 
cluded the  activity  of  the  order  in  Bogota.  In  the 
following  night,  the  viceroy  caused  the  establish- 
ments of  the  Jesuits  in  Bogota  to  be  surrounded 
by  guards.  These  establishments  were  the  Colegio 
Maximo,  the  Seminario  de  San  Bartolome,  and 
the  Noviciado.  The  commissioners  appeared  at 
the  Colegio  Maximo,  and  were  immediately  ad- 

18  Vergara  y  Velasco,  F.  J.,  Capitulos  de  una  hisioria  civil  y 
militar  de  Colombia,  Bogota,  1905,  78-85. 


144  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

mitted.  Then,  carrying  out  the  usual  programme, 
they  summoned  all  the  members  of  the  college  to 
assemble,  and  in  the  presence  of  witnesses  caused 
the  royal  decree  to  be  read  to  them.  Then  the 
provincial  took  it,  kissed  it,  and  affirmed  that  they 
would  obey  it  like  faithful  and  loyal  vassals  of  the 
king.  After  the  provincial  had  surrendered  the 
keys  of  the  college,  the  members  of  the  Society 
were  arrested  and  cut  off  completely,  as  in  the 
other  cases,  from  all  communication  with  mem- 
bers of  the  secular  community.  The  commissioner 
then  made  a  careful  examination  and  inventory 
of  all  the  property  discovered  in  the  college. 
When  the  faithful  appeared  in  the  morning,  they 
found  the  doors  of  the  church  closed,  and  the  same 
fact  was  observed  at  the  Seminario  and  the 
Noviciado,  where  a  similar  procedure  had  been 
followed.  To  set  aside  the  possibility  of  a  public 
commotion,  the  royal  decree  imposing  absolute 
silence  respecting  the  events  concerning  the  expul- 
sion, was  published.  It  was,  moreover,  announced 
that  the  college  would  be  opened  in  a  few  days 
with  new  instructors.  The  Jesuits  from  the 
Seminario  and  the  Noviciado  were  transferred  to 
the  Colegio  Maximo. 

Commissioners  were  appointed  and  sent  to 
other  places  w^here  Jesuits  resided;  to  Tunja, 
Honda,  Pamplona,  the  Llanos  de  Casanare,  Popa- 
yan,  Antioquia,  Cartagena,  and  Mompox.  The 
Jesuits  taken  from  most  of  the  interior  towns 
were  sent  to  Honda,  consigned  to  ^n  officer  of  the 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  145 

port,  Jose  Palacio,  to  be  embarked  for  Mompox, 
as  the  next  stage  of  their  journey  to  Europe. 
Those  from  Pamplona  were  sent  out  of  the  coun- 
try by  way  of  Maracaibo;  while  those  from  the 
missions  of  Casanare,  fourteen  in  number,  pro- 
ceeded through  Venezuela.  In  every  instance 
when  the  commissioners  appeared  at  a  college  or 
other  Jesuit  institution,  the  door  was  opened  for 
them  immediately ;  and  this  fact  has  been  cited  as 
evidence  that  the  event  was  expected.  Whether 
this  was  the  case  or  not,  the  priests  made  no  effort 
to  provoke  a  popular  movement  in  their  favor. 
However  unjust  they  may  have  considered  their 
expulsion,  they  obeyed  the  order  without  delay, 
and  the  royal  permission  to  use  force  in  making 
the  arrests  was  superfluous. 

XIII 

The  same  prompt  obedience  was  rendered  by 
the  Jesuits  of  the  llanos,  or  the  plains  of  the 
Orinoco  or  of  the  Casanare.  In  1659  the  Jesuits 
were  permitted  to  return  to  the  llanos,  from  which 
they  had  previously  been  recalled.  Two  priests, 
Francisco  Jimeno  and  Francisco  Alvarez,  were 
appointed  to  explore  the  region,  and  to  report 
such  information  as  the  provincial  might  need  to 
enable  him  to  direct  the  proposed  missionary 
undertaking.  On  the  basis  of  the  report  presented 
by  these  envoys  on  their  return,  headquarters  of 
missionary  work  were  established  at  Pauto. 


146  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

A  feature  of  these  missions  not  conspicuous 
elsewhere  was  a  military  escort  provided  for  the 
protection  of  the  missionaries.  The  small  squads 
of  soldiers  detailed  for  service  at  the  several 
reductions  were  paid  from  the  royal  treasury.  In 
the  reductions  of  the  Orinoco,  a  troop  of  six 
soldiers  appears  as  early  as  1681,  and  six  other 
soldiers  were  added  to  the  force  after  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  pueblos  and  the  missionaries  by  the 
savages  in  1684.  The  king  ordered  another  addi- 
tion, in  1693,  consisting  of  twenty-five  soldiers,  a 
number  that  was  increased  a  little  later  to  thirty- 
five.  Thus  from  time  to  time  the  number  of 
soldiers  sent  to  the  missions  was  increased  until 
each  of  a  majority  of  the  reductions  had  a  small 
escort. 

More  than  forty  missions,  or  reductions,  were 
founded  in  the  district  of  Casanare,  Meta,  and 
Orinoco  between  1604  and  1755,  but  many  of  these 
were  afterwards  abandoned,  some  were  united, 
and  others  continued  to  exist  under  changed 
names.  Shortly  before  the  expulsion,  there  were 
the  following  reductions  in  existence,  each  with 
the  number  of  Indians  indicated : 

Casanare 

Name  of  Mission  Indians 

1.  Panto  600 

2.  San  Salvador  del  Puerto  de  Casanare  350 

3.  Na.  Sa.  de  la  Asuncion 1,800 

4.  El  Pilar  de  Patute 70 

5.  San  Javier  de  Macaguanes 1,000 

6.  San  Ignacio  de  Betoyes 1,600 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  147 

Meta 

Name  of  Mission  Indians 

1.  Surimena  400 

2.  San  Miguel  de  Macuco 800 

3.  Casimena  700 

4.  La  Quebradita  de  Jiramena 300 

Orinoco 

1.  Cariehana   400 

2.  San  Borja  330 

3.  Cabnita  400 

4.  Uriana  600 

5.  El  Randal  300 

6.  La  Encaramada  290 

Total  9,940 

The  policy  of  isolation  was  more  or  less  strictly 
carried  out  in  the  reductions  of  the  plains  as  well 
as  in  those  of  Paraguay.  The  Jesuits  sought  to 
prevent  Europeans  from  knowing  the  internal 
affairs  of  the  missions.  The  neophites  were  not 
expected  to  go  out,  and  strangers  were  not  ex- 
pected to  enter,  without  the  permission  of  the 
priests.  This  exclusion  provoked  hostility,  but 
the  Jesuits  relied  on  their  brethren  to  allay  it. 
The  confessor  of  the  king  and  the  queen  were 
expected  to  support  them  in  times  of  difficulty. 
The  communism  of  the  Jesuits  of  the  llanos, 
another  conspicuous  feature  of  their  policy, 
appears  to  have  been  adapted  to  the  disposition 
of  the  Indians.  The  reluctance  of  the  Indians  to 
work  made  them  look  with  favor  on  membership 
in  a  community  where  there  was  a  stock,  from 


148  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

which  one  might   draw  even  when   old   and  no 
longer  able  to  contribute  to  it. 

When  the  Jesuits  of  the  Orinoco  plains  were 
informed  of  the  royal  decree  of  expulsion,  the 
superiors  of  the  missions  presented  their  books  of 
accounts,  containing  the  record  of  the  reductions 
from  their  foundation,  to  the  accredited  authori- 
ties. Their  property,  whether  in  money  or  in  any 
other  form,  was  turned  over  to  the  governor 
of  the  province.  The  priests  left  their  pueblos 
quietly  at  night,  in  order  that  there  might  be  no 
disturbance  or  insurrection  among  the  Indians 
who  had  adopted  the  settled  life  of  the  missions. 
'  *  The  rich  haciendas  of  Casanare  and  other  articles 
of  great  value,  which  were  the  common  property 
of  the  Indians  of  this  and  other  districts,  were 
confiscated  in  favor  of  the  royal  treasury,  leaving 
the  legitimate  o^\^lers  in  extreme  want.  The 
churches  were  dispoiled  of  their  most  costly 
jewels ;  the  haciendas  were  sold  at  an  insignificant 
price;  and  the  regime  of  rigor  and  rapacity 
reappeared  in  greater  severity.  The  Indians 
abandoned  these  fields,  the  former  theater  of  their 
prosperity;  the  reductions  were  depopulated;  the 
temples  were  ruined;  and  the  land  was  turned 
back  to  its  primitive  state  of  savage  and  solitary 
nature. ' '" 

19  Plaza,  Jose  Antonio  de,  Memorias  para  la  Jiistoria  de  la 
Nueva  Granada  desde  su  descuhrimiento  liasta  el  20  de  julio  de 
1810,  Bogota,  1850,  314. 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  149 

XIV 

The  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  stands  out  as  a 
prominent  event  in  the  history  of  Spanish  South 
America,  yet  at  the  time  it  attracted  compara- 
tively little  popular  attention.  It  was  an  act  of 
the  sovereign,  and  was  later  ratified  by  the  pope. 
In  opposition  to  such  an  act  there  was  then  no 
organized  public  opinion.  Moreover,  the  meas- 
ures taken  to  execute  the  decree  of  expulsion  were 
carried  out  without  previous  announcement;  and 
before  the  public  had  become  aware  of  what  was 
contemplated,  the  houses,  the  schools,  and  the 
churches  of  the  Jesuits  had  been  closed,  and  the 
unfortunate  missionaries  were  well  on  their  way 
into  exile. 

One  of  the  problems  of  the  expulsion  of  the 
Jesuits  was  to  find  where  they  would  be  received 
and  permitted  to  remain.  The  attempts  to  estab- 
lish them  in  Corsica  and  Genoa  were  unsuccessful, 
and  it  was  finally  decided  that  they  should  be 
taken  to  the  papal  states.  In  making  this  decision 
Charles  III,  it  is  said,  pretended  to  rule  the  states 
of  the  supreme  pontiff  with  the  same  authority  as 
that  which  he  exercised  in  his  own  dominions. 
Thus,  without  soliciting  beforehand  the  consent 
of  the  pope,  or  giving  notice  of  his  intention,  he 
sent  to  the  papal  states  the  six  thousand  Spanish 
subjects  whom  he  had  expelled  from  Spain  and 
the  American  colonies,  ordering  his  captains  to 
disembark  them  at  ports  of  these  states.    By  the 


150  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

royal  ordinance  of  April  2,  1767,  he,  moreover, 
declared  that  if  any  Jesuit  should  leave  the  states 
of  the  church,  the  pension  that  had  been  assigned 
to  him  would  be  discontinued.^"  The  papal  states 
were  thus  their  prison,  but  the  authorities  of  the 
church  were  not  pleased  to  be  made  their  keepers. 
Their  view  was  that  if  the  Jesuits  were  inno- 
cent of  any  offense,  there  existed  no  ground  for 
expelling  them  as  pernicious;  if  they  were  bad, 
one  might  not  assume  that  the  pope  should  punish 
them,  but  that  they  ought  to  have  been  punished 
in  the  dominions  of  the  king.^^ 

On  the  arrival  of  the  Jesuits,  it  was  not 
thought  advisable  to  incorporate  them  in  the 
established  organization,  but  to  assign  them  to 
the  provinces  of  Emilia  and  Romagna,  where 
they  might  be  maintained  without  great  incon- 
venience. Those  from  Paraguay  were  sent  to  the 
cities  of  Faenza,  Ravena,  and  Brisighella.  At 
Faenza  they  received  special  attention  from  the 
priests  of  the  Jesuit  college  in  that  city ;  and  some 
of  them  accepted  an  invitation  from  Count  Can- 
toni  to  occupy  a  house  owned  by  him  in  the 
country. 

Before  the  end  of  1769,  almost  all  of  the 
banished  Spanish  Jesuits  found  themselves  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  papal  states,  and  here  some 
of  them  attempted  to  reorganize  the  instruction 
that  had  been  interrupted  in  America  by  their 

20  Coleccidn  de  libros  y  documentos,  VII,  242, 

21  Coleccidn  de  libros  y  documentos,  VII,  2-43. 


EXPULSION    OF    THE    JESUITS  151 

expulsion.  The  source  of  their  support,  aside 
from  the  donations  received,  was  a  small  pension 
of  about  a  hundred  dollars  a  year,  paid  by  the 
Spanish  government  from  the  property  of  the 
Jesuits  that  had  been  confiscated.  But  all  their 
resources  were  inadequate  for  their  proper  main- 
tenance, so  that,  as  it  was  said,  if  they  clothed 
themselves,  there  was  nothing  left  for  food,  and 
if  they  ate,  there  was  nothing  left  for  clothing. 

Those  persons  among  the  exiles  who  turned 
their  attention  to  instruction  found  pupils  without 
going  outside  their  own  ranks ;  for  a  considerable 
number  of  novices  had  followed  their  superiors. 
They  had  refused  to  accept  the  conditions  under 
which  they  might  have  remained  in  America. 
These  conditions  were  embraced  in  the  instruc- 
tions of  Aranda  to  the  commissioners  charged 
with  carrying  out  the  decree  of  expulsion.  The 
tenth  section  of  these  instructions  provided  that 
if  any  novices  were  found  in  the  novitiates,  or 
houses,  who  had  not  already  taken  their  religious 
vows,  they  should  be  immediately  removed  in 
order  that  they  might  have  no  communication 
with  the  rest,  and  should  be  taken  to  a  private 
house,  where  they  might  enjoy  full  liberty,  have 
knowledge  of  the  perpetual  expatriation  that  had 
been  imposed  upon  the  members  of  the  Society, 
and  decide  freely  according  to  their  inclinations, 
without  being  influenced  by  the  commissioner, 
whether  to  return  to  secular  life  or  accept  the 
fate  of  the  exiles.    But  they  were  made  to  under- 


152  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

stand  that  in  going  with  those  who  were  expelled 
they  would  receive  no  pension,  and  their  expatria- 
tion would  be  perpetual.  The  government  was 
evidently  desirous  of  having  the  novices  abandon 
their  plan  to  enter  the  order  of  the  Jesuits;  but 
the  youths,  with  the  zeal  of  new  converts,  were 
not  easily  moved,  and,  for  the  larger  part,  went 
with  their  teachers  to  Italy,  and  here  under  the 
newly  organized  instruction  had  an  opportunity 
to  continue  their  studies. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  not  only  checked 
the  economic  development  of  the  dependencies, 
but  also  clouded  their  literary  and  scholarly  pros- 
pects. The  most  efficient  schools  throughout  the 
colonies  were  closed,  and  the  inhabitants  lapsed 
into  an  ignorance  even  more  profound  than  that 
which  had  marked  them  in  the  earlier  decades. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  CREATION  OF  THE  VICEROYALTY  OF 
RIO  DE  LA  PLATA 

I.  The  need  of  a  new  viceroyalty  and  the  functions  of 
the  viceroy.  II.  The  audiencia  of  Charcas  and  the 
creation  of  the  viceroyalty  of  Rio  de  la  Plata.  HI. 
Viceroy  Ceballos  and  his  army.  IV.  The  Spanish- 
Portuguese  treaty  of  1777.  V.  The  commercial 
code  of  1778.  VI.  Viceroy  Vertiz.  VII.  Fernan- 
dez general  intendant  of  the  army  and  the  royal 
treasury. 


After  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits,  and  before 
the  conclusion  of  the  second  boundary  treaty  with 
Portugal,  Charles  III  undertook  another  measure 
of  internal  reform  in  the  South  American  depen- 
dencies. The  revolution  in  Paraguay  and  the 
continuance  of  the  controversy  with  the  Portu- 
guese emphasized  the  need  of  giving  a  greater 
degree  of  independence  to  the  government  of  the 
southeastern  provinces.  The  viceroyalty  of  Peru 
had,  for  many  years,  shown  signs  of  political 
disintegration.  Evidence  of  this  was  presented  in 
demands  for  an  increase  in  the  number  of  audi- 
encias;  in  the  establishment  of  the  viceroyalty  of 


154  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

New  Granada,  or  Santa  Fe ;  and  in  the  pretension 
of  the  captaincies-general  to  be  independent  of 
the  viceroys.  The  growth  of  the  population  in 
the  different  quarters  of  the  continent,  and  the 
development  of  local  interests  and  local  ambitions, 
made  necessary  a  more  effective  administration 
than  could  be  furnished  from  anj^  single  center. 
This  difl&culty  found  its  normal  solution  in  the 
division  of  the  original  South  American  vice- 
royalty.  This  division  was  first  carried  into 
effect,  as  already  suggested,  by  establishing  a 
separate  viceregal  government  for  the  territory 
now  embraced  in  the  republics  of  Colombia  and 
Ecuador. 

In  the  southern  part  of  the  continent  the  need 
of  a  new  administrative  organization  had  become 
imperative.  There  was  wanted  a  more  effective 
agency  not  only  for  the  better  management  of 
internal  affairs,  but  also  for  repelling  foreign 
encroachments,  particularly  those  of  the  Portu- 
guese from  the  side  of  Brazil.  As  a  capital  for 
the  new  government,  Buenos  Aires  had  the  great 
advantage  of  its  geographical  position.  It  was 
near  the  southern  coast,  where  the  Spaniards  were 
attempting  to  plant  colonies,  and  it  was  the  gate- 
way to  the  interior  of  the  continent,  reached  by 
the  great  rivers  of  Paraguay,  Parana,  and  Uru- 
guay. The  Cordillera,  impassable  during  a  large 
part  of  the  year,  made  it  necessary  that  the  east- 
ern and  western  coasts  should  have  different 
centers  of  governmental  authority.    The  province 


VICEROYALTY  OF  RIO  DE  LA  PLATA     155 

of  Cuyo,  east  of  the  Andes,  formerly  attached  to 
Chile,  had  more  intimate  geographical  relations 
with  the  provinces  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  than  with 
the  territory  of  the  Pacific  coast,  and,  therefore, 
needed  to  be  politically  united  with  the  provinces 
of  the  southeast. 

The  viceroyalty  of  Buenos  Aires,  when  created, 
was  in  all  its  legal  features  like  those  that  had 
been  previously  established  in  Mexico,  Peru,  and 
the  present  territory  of  Colombia  and  Ecuador. 
In  Mexico  and  Peru,  at  the  beginning  of  the  last 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  succession 
of  viceroys  already  extended  over  more  than  two 
hundred  years.  A  complex  social  organization 
had  grown  up  in  their  capitals;  elaborate  forms 
and  ceremonies  were  observed  both  in  the  gov- 
ernment and  in  private  life;  and  the  class  dis- 
tinctions that  were  recognized  gave  the  society 
an  appearance  of  maturity.  But  in  Buenos  Aires, 
a  frontier  town,  there  was  comparatively  little 
wealth,  less  recognition  of  forms  and  ceremonies, 
and,  in  every  respect,  a  simpler  mode  of  existence. 
While  the  viceroy  of  Buenos  Aires  stood  under 
the  same  law  as  the  viceroy  of  Mexico  or  Lima, 
his  real  position  was  widely  different  from  that 
of  the  viceroy  in  either  of  the  older  capitals. 

The  powers  and  duties  of  a  viceroy  were  in 
general  such  as  devolved  upon  him  as  the  imme- 
diate representative  of  the  king.  He  considered 
petitions  of  all  sorts  addressed  to  him,  and  in  this 
he  was  assisted  by  a  legal  adviser,  called  asesor 


156  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

general.  The  asesor  prepared  the  decisions,  or 
replies  to  the  petitions,  and  submitted  them  to 
the  viceroy  for  his  signature.  From  these  de- 
cisions there  was  an  appeal  to  the  audiencia.  The 
viceroy  stood  at  the  head  of  both  civil  and  mili- 
tary affairs.  He  was  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  colonial  military  and  naval  forces,  but  in 
emergencies  he  was  assisted  by  a  council  of  war. 
He  called  courts-martial,  and  reviewed  for  con- 
firmation the  sentences  imposed  by  the  courts 
before  they  were  carried  out.  As  president  of  the 
audiencia  he  might  attend  its  sessions,  and  he  had 
the  power  of  veto  over  all  its  decisions.^  In  this 
capacity  he  made  an  annual  report  to  the  king 
through  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  and  took  this 
occasion  to  give  the  king  all  necessary  informa- 
tion concerning  the  public  and  private  characters 
of  the  members  of  this  court.  His  conduct  was, 
however,  subjected  to  restriction.  He  was  for- 
bidden to  marry  within  the  limits  of  the  vice- 
royalty  without  the  express  permission  of  the 
sovereign.     He  might  not  engage  in  commercial 

1  Sometimes  the  viceroy  attended  the  meetings  of  the  audiencia 
in  state.  The  ceremony  of  these  occasions  in  Lima  has  been  de- 
scribed by  a  contemporary  observer.  When  it  had  been  announced 
that  the  viceroy  would  thus  be  present,  a  deputation  of  the  judges 
"attended  him  from  his  palace  to  the  hall;  on  his  arrival  at 
the  door,  the  porter  called  aloud  'the  president!  '  when  all  the 
attorneys,  advocates,  and  others  met  him  and  conducted  him  to 
his  chair;  the  judges  continued  standing  until  he  was  seated  and 
nodded  permission  for  them  to  resume  their  seats. ' '  At  the  end 
of  the  session  all  the  members  of  the  audiencia  ' '  accompanied  him 
to  the  door  of  his  apartment  in  the  palace,  the  regent  walking 
on  his  left,  and  the  other  members  preceding  him  two  and  two. ' ' 
Stevenson,  Twenty  Years'  Residence,  I,  175. 


VICEROYALTY  OF  RIO  DE  LA  PLATA     157 

affairs,  acquire  property,  become  a  god-father  to 
an  infant,  or  visit  a  private  family.  He  was  the 
royal  vice-patron.  All  appointments  to  benefices 
in  the  church  required  his  confirmation.  In  exer- 
cising his  power  with  reference  to  these  appoint- 
ments, he  selected  one  of  three  persons  proposed 
by  the  archbishop.  The  viceroy  of  Peru  was 
governor-general  of  Callao,  and  twice  every  year 
he  visited  the  fortifications,  receiving  for  each 
visit  an  addition  to  his  salary  of  five  hundred 
dollars. 

II 

For  two  centuries  the  audiencia  of  Charcas 
had  exercised  extensive  powers  over  the  greater 
part  of  the  territory  that  now  fell  under  the  rule 
of  the  viceroy  of  Rio  de  la  Plata.  Within  the  limits 
of  its  wide  jurisdiction  this  body  had  taken  to 
itself  practically  sovereign  power.  It  dared  even 
to  set  itself  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  the  viceroy 
of  Peru,  its  legitimate  superior.  It  manifested 
this  opposition  in  supporting  the  rebellion  of 
Antequera,  while  the  viceroy  was  using  his  power 
to  suppress  it.~  In  the  interior  of  the  continent 
the  audiencia  of  Charcas  remained  serene  and 
unmoved  by  the  agitations  that  disturbed  Lima, 
Asuncion,  Buenos  Aires,  and  other  more  acces- 
sible cities.     It  was  in  some  sense  the  training 

2  Rene-Moreno,  G.,  Bolivia  y  Peru:  Notas  historicas  y  Mblio- 
grdfieas,  Santiago  de  Chile,  1905,  202.  The  essay  on  "La  Audi- 
encia de  Charcas,  1559-1809"  occupies  pages  201  to  325. 


158  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

place,  the  apprentice  station  for  oidores  destined 
for  promotion  to  the  audiencia  of  Lima.^ 

The  creation  of  the  viceroyalty  of  Rio  de  la 
Plata  was  the  most  important  act  of  Spanish 
colonial  legislation  in  the  later  decades  of  the 
century.  A  step  towards  this  event  is  seen  in  the 
king's  declaration  of  1766,  that  the  governor  of 
Buenos  Aires  should  have  supervision  over  the 
eastern  shore,  including  the  Straits  and  Cape 
Horn.*  Another  step  was  taken  by  the  fiscal  of 
the  royal  audiencia  of  Charcas,  Tomas  Alvarez  de 
Acevedo.  He  foresaw  the  necessity  of  a  change, 
and  urged  that  the  government  of  a  province  as 
far  away  as  Buenos  Aires  was  from  the  center 
of  power  would  inevitably  be  inefficient  and  expen- 
sive. In  spite  of  the  great  difficulties  of  communi- 
cation, the  supreme  tribunal  for  the  province  of 
Buenos  Aires  had  its  seat  nearly  two  thousand 
miles  away,  in  the  city  of  Charcas.  In  order  to 
remedy  the  evils  and  promote  the  public  welfare, 
it  appeared  to  Acevedo  imperatively  necessary  to 
create  a  viceroyalty  and  audiencia  at  Buenos 
Aires.  The  audiencia  of  Charcas  adopted  this 
view,  and  on  the  12th  of  January,  1771,  made  a 
report,  and  sent  it  to  the  king,  advising  the 
creation  of  a  new  viceroyalty,  urging  that  the 
province  of  Cuyo  should  be  separated  from  Chile, 
and  united  with  the  provinces  of  Tucuman,  Buenos 

3  Memorias  de  los  vireyes  del  Peru,  II,  93 ;  Eene-Moreno,  Boli/via 
y  Peru,  208. 

4  Quesada,   Vicente   Gaspar,    Vireinato   del   Bio   de   la  Plata, 
Buenos  Aires,  1881,  38. 


VICBROYALTY  OF  EIO  DE  LA  PLATA     159 

Aires,  and  Paraguay,  and  the  whole  be  made  to 
constitute  the  territory  of  the  new  viceroyalty  of 
Rio  de  la  Plata.^  The  prompt  action  that  was 
taken  in  this  case  was  in  a  large  measure  due  to 
the  hostility  that  had  broken  out  between  the 
Spaniards  and  the  Portuguese.  The  king  of 
Spain  determined  not  only  to  meet  the  hostile 
Portuguese  with  an  effective  force,  but  also  to 
create  a  new  center  of  viceregal  power.  Both  the 
viceroy  of  Peru  and  the  governor  of  Buenos  Aires 
favored  the  project;  and  in  July,  1776,  Pedro 
Ceballos  was  informed  that  he  would  be  placed 
in  command  of  the  military  expedition  against  the 
Portuguese  in  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  that  he 
would  be  entrusted  with  the  superior  authority 
over  this  district  and  all  the  territories  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  audiencia  of  Charcas,  as  well 
as  those  of  the  cities  of  Mendoza  and  San  Juan 
del  Pico;  and  that  there  would  be  conceded  to 
him  the  status  of  viceroy,  governor,  captain- 
general,  and  president  of  the  audiencia,  with  all 
the  powers  and  duties  pertaining  to  this  status. 
Ceballos  was  then  governor  of  Madrid,  and  the 
king  provided  that  this  office  should  be  held  for 
him,  in  order  that  he  might  return  to  it  when  the 
object  of  the  expedition  should  have  been  attained. 
Under  the  date  of  August  1,  1776,  the  king 
issued  to  Ceballos  his  commission  in  the  following 
form: 

"Whereas,   being   well   satisfied   with   the    repeated 
proofs  which  you  have  given  me  of  your  love  and  zeal 
5  Quesada,  Vireinato,  40. 


160  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

for  my  royal  service,  and  having  appointed  you  to  com- 
mand the  expedition  that  is  made  ready  at  Cadiz  for 
South  America,  instructed  to  obtain  satisfaction  for  the 
insults  offered  by  the  Portuguese,  in  my  provinces  of 
Rio  do  la  Plata,  I  have  appointed  you  my  viceroy,  gov- 
ernor, and  captain-general  of  the  provinces  of  Buenos 
Aires,  Paraguay,  Tucuman,  Potosi,  Santa  Cruz  de  la 
Sierra,  Charcas,  and  of  all  the  districts,  towns,  and 
territories,  to  which  is  extended  the  jurisdiction  of  that 
audiencia,  over  which  you  will  preside  when  present, 
with  the  appropriate  powers  and  privileges  which  the 
other  viceroys  of  my  dominions  in  India  enjoy,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  the  Indies,  thus  embracing  under  your 
command  and  jurisdiction  the  territories  of  the  cities  of 
Mendoza,  and  San  Juan  del  Pico,  which  at  present  are 
dependent  on  the  government  of  Chile,  with  absolute 
independence  of  my  viceroy  of  the  kingdom  of  Peru, 
while  thus  you  remain  in  those  countries,  with  respect 
to  the  military  as  well  as  to  the  civil  government,  and  the 
general  superintendency  of  the  royal  treasury,  in  all  its 
branches  and  products;  wherefore  I  command  the  said 
viceroy  of  Peru,  the  presidents  of  Chile  and  Charcas,  the 
ministers  of  their  audiencias,  the  governors,  corregidores, 
alcaldes,  ministers  of  my  royal  treasury,  officers  of  my 
royal  army  and  navy,  and  other  persons  whom  it  may 
concern,  that  they  may  have,  recognize,  and  obey  you  as 
such  viceroy,  governor,  and  captain-general  of  the  prov- 
inces mentioned,  in  virtue  of  this  my  order  and  testi- 
monial of  that  which  you  will  be  obliged  to  direct  on 
your  arrival,  to  the  chiefs,  tribunals,  and  others  who 
may  be  concerned,  so  that  without  the  least  reply  or 
contradiction  they  may  comply  with  your  orders  and 
that  they  may  comply  with  them  punctually  in  their 
respective  jurisdictions,  which  is  thus  my  will,  and  that 
as  soon  as  you  are  prepared  to  leave  Cadiz  3^ou  make 
yourself  known  as  \'iceroy  and  captain-general  to  all 
persons  on  all  the  warships  and  transports,  in  order  that 


VICEROYALTY  OF  RIO  DE  LA  PLATA     161 

they  may  act  in  accordance  with  this  knowledge  and  may 
be  under  your  orders  when  they  embark,  and  to  the  effect 
that  you  may  not  be  placed  in  embarrassment  in  the 
absolute  service  and  authority,  and  with  regard  to  the 
high  character  of  my  vieeroj%  governor,  and  captain- 
general,  in  virtue  of  this  my  royal  decree,  I  excuse  you 
from  all  the  rest  of  the  formalities  of  other  expeditions, 
oath,  payment  of  half-year  annats,  assuming  possession, 
judgment  of  reside ncia,  and  of  whatever  other  requisites 
are  customary  and  prescribed  by  the  laws  of  the  Indies, 
in  case  of  the  appointment  of  viceroys  to  those  dominions, 
for  thus  entering  my  royal  service ;  and  I  command 
equally  the  officers  of  the  royal  treasury  of  Buenos  Aires 
and  the  rest  of  the  districts  of  your  government,  that 
they  may  pay  you  punctually  from  the  funds  of  my 
royal  treasury  to  the  amount  of  forty  thousand  pesos 
current  in  America,  which  I  assign  to  you  in  Cadiz,  in 
virtue  of  your  receipts,  or  letters  of  pajnnent  which  will 
serve  for  them,  of  proper  date  without  any  other  security 
whatsoever. 

"Given  in  San  Ildefonso,  August  1,  1776." 


Ill 

The  king's  instructions  concerning  the  govern- 
ment to  be  established  were  issued  under  date 
of  August  15,  1776.  The  new  viceroyalty  was 
independent  of  that  of  Peru,  and  the  power  con- 
ferred upon  Ceballos  was  the  absolute  power  of 
the  king.  At  this  time  the  governor  of  Rio  de  la 
Plata  was  Juan  Jose  de  Vertiz,  who,  having 
handed  over  to  the  new  viceroy  the  command  of 
the  troops  and  the  superior  authority  over  all  the 
cities  and  territory  under  his  control,  was  ordered 


162  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

to  remain  as  governor  of  this  province,  subordi- 
nated to  the  viceroy  as  the  viceroy  was  subject  to 
the  king.  The  sixteenth  article  of  the  instructions 
conmiands  the  viceroy  to  raise  all  the  militia  pos- 
sible within  the  limits  of  the  new  viceroyalty,  to 
commission  officers,  and  to  make  effective  regula- 
tions for  clothing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the 
troops  to  be  maintained;  and  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  expedition  to  make  arrangements  under 
which  the  established  armed  force  may  be  con- 
tinued. It  was  not  difficult  to  foresee  that  the 
irritation  caused  by  Spain's  commercial  policy 
was  destined,  sooner  or  later,  to  make  a  consider- 
able military  force  needed  to  ward  off  foreign 
encroachments. 

The  fleet  appointed  to  carry  the  nine  thousand 
soldiers  placed  under  the  command  of  Ceballos 
left  Cadiz  on  the  12th  of  October,  1776.  Ceballos 
did  not  go  to  the  colony  as  to  a  strange  country. 
He  had  been  governor  of  the  province  of  Rio  de  la 
Plata  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  from  1756  to  1766 ; 
and  in  his  military  expeditions  to  Misiones  and 
against  Colonia  he  had  become  familiar  with  the 
region  over  which  he  was  to  rule  as  viceroy.  He 
knew,  moreover,  the  territory  in  dispute  between 
the  Spaniards  and  the  Portuguese,  as  well  as  the 
merits  of  the  pretensions  of  the  two  parties.  He 
landed  with  his  forces  at  Montevideo  on  the  21st 
of  April,  1777,  and  led  them  along  the  shore  to 
Colonia.  At  the  same  time  he  sent  warships  to 
command   that   town   and  fort   from   the   river. 


VICEROYALTY  OF  RIO  DE  LA  PLATA     163 

Attacked  by  both  the  land  and  naval  forces, 
Colonia  surrendered  on  the  4th  of  June,  1777. 
One  hundred  and  forty  pieces  of  ordnance  and  a 
large  quantity  of  arms  and  munitions  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Spaniards.  The  officers  were  sent  to 
Rio  Janeiro,  while  the  common  soldiers  and  the 
colonists  were  transported  to  Mendoza.  The 
colonists  and  common  soldiers  had  been  brought 
to  America  from  the  Azores,  the  Portuguese  gov- 
ernment expecting  that  their  experience  in  the 
vineyards  of  their  native  islands  would  be  utilized 
in  developing  the  culture  of  the  vine  in  the  region 
about  the  mouth  of  the  great  river.  But  the 
climatic  conditions  there  had  been  found  unfavor- 
able to  this  undertaking.  In  the  interior  of  the 
country  at  the  foot  of  the  Andes  there  was  a  better 
prospect,  and  the  later  important  development  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  grape  in  that  region  was 
furthered  by  the  prisoners  of  war  from  Colonia. 
The  continuance  of  the  war  against  the  Portu- 
guese was  prevented  by  despatches  from  Madrid, 
announcing  that,  by  an  agreement  with  Portugal, 
hostilities  had  been  suspended.  Portuguese 
diplomacy  had  put  an  end  to  the  military  under- 
taking. These  despatches  also  brought  to  Cebal- 
los  the  information  that  he  had  received  military 
promotion.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  only 
course  open  to  him  was  to  return  with  his  army 
to  Montevideo.  Here  he  placed  General  Vertiz 
in  immediate  command  of  the  forces,  and  went  to 
Buenos  Aires. 


164  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

IV 

The  cessation  of  hostilities  was  followed  by 
the  treaty  of  San  Ildefonso,  October  1,  1777.  By 
the  nullification  of  the  treaty  of  1750,  there  re- 
mained as  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
possessions  of  the  two  powers  only  the  vague  and 
indefinite  boundary  approved  by  previous  docu- 
ments and  actual  possession.  Portugal  found 
this  favorable  to  her  policy  of  persistent  en- 
croachment, and,  therefore,  had  met  with  indiffer- 
ence all  projects  for  a  more  definite  agreement. 
Finally,  however,  it  was  mutually  determined  to 
form  a  new  treaty  which  would  fLx  more  accu- 
rately the  intercolonial  boundary.  The  ministers 
appointed  to  conduct  the  negotiations  and  form 
the  treaty  were  Jose  Monino,  Count  of  Florida 
Blanca,  on  the  part  of  Spain,  and  Francisco  Ino- 
cencio  de  Souza  Coutinho,  on  the  part  of  Portugal. 
The  treaty  pro\aded  for  the  mutual  release  of 
prisoners  taken  from  the  opposing  nations;  the 
cession  of  Colonia  and  its  territory  and  the  island 
of  San  Gabriel  to  Spain.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
ceded  establishments  and  territory  might  with- 
draw or  remain  with  all  their  effects;  and  the 
Spaniards  in  any  territory  or  establishment  ceded 
to  Portugal  might  enjoy  the  same  privilege.  In 
this  treaty,  as  in  that  of  1750,  the  line  of  separa- 
tion to  be  drawn  was  described  in  detail.  The 
navigation  of  the  rivers  should  be  in  common  to  the 
point  where  both  banks  were  held  by  one  nation. 


VICEROYALTY  OF  RIO  DE  LA  PLATA     165 

Islands  in  rivers  where  one  bank  was  held  by  each 
nation  should  go  with  the  land  of  the  bank  that 
was  nearer  in  the  season  of  low  water,  except  in 
case  of  large  islands,  when  they  should  be  divided. 
This  treaty,  like  its  predecessor,  provided  for  a 
commission  to  fix  practically  the  boundary  line, 
and  to  interpret  the  rules  established  in  the  treaty 
to  be  followed  in  its  execution.  Contraband  trade 
across  the  border  was  prohibited.  *'In  proof  of 
the  union  and  friendship  so  greatly  desired  by  the 
two  august  contending  parties,"  the  Spanish 
crown  offered  to  restore  and  evacuate,  within  four 
months  after  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  the 
island  of  Santa  Catalina  and  the  part  of  the 
adjacent  continent  which  had  been  occupied  by 
Spanish  forces;  and  Portugal  agreed  not  to  per- 
mit any  foreign  ships  of  war  or  of  commerce  to 
enter  the  port  of  Santa  Catalina  or  the  ports  of 
the  adjacent  coast,  particularly  ships  belonging 
to  a  power  with  which  Spain  might  be  at  war,  or 
that  might  be  suspected  of  carrying  on  contraband 
trade.  The  troops  and  vessels  of  war  should  be 
mutually  withdrawm  to  posts  destined  for  them  in 
time  of  peace.''  Moreover,  inasmuch  as  the  wealth 
of  the  country  depended  largely  upon  the  slaves 
who  cultivated  the  lands,  the  governors  were 
required  to  agree  on  a  method  of  returning  them 
in  case  they  ran  away  from  their  owners,  so  that 
the  fact  of  passing  under  foreign  dominion  might 
not  give  them  their  liberty. 

6  Calvo,  Coleccidn  completa  de  los  tratados,  Paris,  1862,  III, 
128-167. 


/ 


166  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 


The  enemy  against  whom  the  king  had  made 
war  was,  after  all,  a  beneficent  factor  in  the  life 
of  the  colony  of  Rio  de  la  Plata;  for  smuggling 
by  the  Portuguese  had  relieved  the  inhabitants,  in 
a  large  measure,  from  the  consequences  of  Spain's 
commercial  restrictions.  Not  only  Portuguese 
wares,  but  also  wares  from  other  countries  were 
smuggled  over  the  border  to  Buenos  Aires.  Eng- 
lish goods,  received  at  Colonia  under  relatively 
low  duties,  were  smuggled  across  the  river  and 
brought  to  the  Spanish  settlers.  The  low  prices 
at  which  they  could  be  obtained  naturally  dimin- 
ished the  importations  by  the  overland  route  from 
Peru.  When  Charles  III  became  aware  of  the 
deplorable  state  of  things  that  had  prevailed  in 
this  southern  colony,  he  was  convinced  that  the 
fundamental  error  lay  in  the  economic  legislation 
to  which  the  colonists  had  been  subjected.  Under 
this  conviction  he  issued  the  commercial  code  of 
1778.J  This  applied  alike  to  all  the  Spanish 
colonies  in  America.  It  had  been  preceded  by  a 
decree  issued  by  Ceballos,  in  1777,  making  free 
the  trade  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  with  Spain  and  the 
rest  of  the  colonies.  This  act  was  approved  by 
the  king  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  more  gen- 
eral law  of  the  following  year,  the  commercial 
code  of  1778. 

7  Beglamoito  para  el  comercio  litre  de  Espana  a  Indies  de 
12  de  Octubre  de  1778. 


VICEROYALTY  OF  RIO  DE  LA  PLATA     167 

Hitherto  Seville  and  Cadiz  had  held  the 
monopoly  of  Spain's  commerce  with  America. 
The  advantages  of  this  trade  were  now  extended 
to  the  principal  ports  of  Spain  and  of  the  Canary 
Islands.  In  Spanish  America  practically  all  of 
the  important  ports,  including  Buenos  Aires  and 
Montevideo,  were  admitted  to  the  privileges  pre- 
viously enjoyed  exclusively  by  Vera  Cruz  and 
Porto  Bello. 

It  was  not  the  design  of  the  crown  in  making 
the  concession  of  1778  to  relinquish  its  hold  on 
the  colonies  or  on  any  part  of  the  revenues  de- 
rived from  them,  but  the  result  of  the  enlarged 
commercial  freedom  was  inevitably  to  stimulate 
a  desire  for  liberty  of  a  larger  scope.  This  change 
was  followed  by  an  unprecedented  growth  in  the 
population  of  the  province  of  Buenos  Aires.  The 
necessary  adjustment  of  this  increasing  popula- 
tion to  the  material  conditions  of  the  colony,  in 
view  of  the  inefficiency  or  indifference  of  the 
supreme  government,  called  for  the  exercise  of 
local  authority,  and  thus  fostered  the  sense  of 
self-control  and  suggested  the  idea  of  indepen- 
dence. 

The  war  between  England  and  Spain,  which 
broke  out  in  1779,  prevented  the  full  realization 
of  the  expected  results  of  the  enlarged  commercial 
freedom.  This  commercial  emancipation,  more- 
over, came  too  late  to  revive  the  loyalty  of  the 
colonists  of  Buenos  Aires.  They  were  well  aware 
that  they  had  been  neglected  for  decades,  and  that 


168  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

this  neglect  had  been  permitted  in  the  interests  of 
the  residents  of  other  ports.  They  were  now  free 
from  the  commercial  as  well  as  the  political  domi- 
nation of  Lima.  Seville's  monopoly  was  broken, 
and  the  rich  products  of  Upper  Peru,  Chile,  Para- 
guay, and  the  provinces  of  the  interior  were 
brought  to  Buenos  Aires  and  shipped  thence  to 
Cadiz,  Barcelona,  Malaga,  Santander,  Vigo,  Gijon, 
San  Lucar,  Havana,  Lima,  Guayaquil,  and  Gui- 
ana; and  these  ports  sent  back  to  Buenos  Aires 
whatever  wares  were  demanded  to  further  the 
advancement  and  well-being  of  that  colony. 

VI 

From  San  Lorenzo,  October  27,  1777,  the  king 
issued  an  order  declaring  the  viceroyalty  perma- 
nent. By  this  order  General  Vertiz  was  appointed 
to  succeed  Ceballos,  but  it  was  left  to  Ceballos  to 
determine  when  this  appointment  should  become 
effective.  This  order,  moreover,  introduced  an 
important  reform,  by  creating  the  office  of 
General  Superintendent  of  the  Army  and  the 
Treasury,  the  occupant  of  which  was  to  have 
general  direction  and  management  of  all  the  de- 
partments of  the  treasury.  The  creation  of  this 
office  fixed  a  limitation  on  the  power  of  the  viceroy 
which  had  not  existed  during  the  administration 
of  Ceballos;  for  he  had  performed  the  functions 
of  general  superintendent  of  the  royal  treasury, 
and  '^to  him  was  subordinated  the  intendant 
appointed  for  the  military  expedition  and  all  his 


VICEROYALTY  OF  RIO  DE  LA  PLATA     169 

subordinates  of  the  auditor's  office  and  the  treas- 
ury."® The  intendancies  were  made  to  embrace 
all  the  inhabited  districts  of  the  viceroyalty  and 
all  those  that  might  be  inhabited  in  the  future,  and 
the  power  to  be  exercised  by  the  intendant  under 
the  new  viceroy  and  his  successors  was  in  some 
sense  a  counterpoise  to  the  authority  of  the  vice- 
roy; for  in  the  order  appointing  Vertiz  the  king 
informed  him  that  while  he  had  made  him  vice- 
roy, governor,  and  captain-general,  he  had  left  the 
supervision  and  regulation  of  the  royal  treasury 
in  all  its  branches  and  proceeds  to  the  care,  direc- 
tion, and  management  of  the  intendant  of  the 
army  whom  he  had  appointed. 

During  the  administration  of  Vertiz  settle- 
ments were  made  on  the  southeastern  coast,  in  the 
region  formerly  known  as  Patagonia,  and  these 
were  recognized  as  part  of  the  viceroyalty  of  Rio 
de  la  Plata,  and  thus  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
viceroy.  But  these  establishments  were  found  to 
cost  the  government  large  sums,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  that  of  Rio  Negro,  were  later  aban- 
doned by  the  authority  of  the  king.  At  the  same 
time  the  king  directed  that  a  column  should  be  left 
there,  on  which  should  be  fixed  the  royal  arms 
and  an  inscription  affirming  the  Spanish  sov- 
ereignty over  the  region;  and  that  this  territory 
should  be  visited  or  otherwise  recognized  every 
year.^ 

8  Quesada,  Vireinato,  134, 

9  In  forme  del  Virey  Vertiz,  para  que  se  abandonen  los  estab- 
lecimientos  de  las  Costa  Fatagonica,  Angelis,  V,  122-127. 


170  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

At  the  head  of  the  political  hierarchy  stood  the 
viceroy,  governor,  and  captain-general;  under 
him  the  secretary  of  the  viceroyalty;  and  there 
were  the  following  provinces  with  civil  or  military 
governors:  Montevideo,  Tucuman,  Paraguay, 
Charcas,  Potosi,  Paz,  Chucuito,  Santa  Cruz  de  la 
Sierra,  Mojos,  Chiquitos,  Misiones  de  Indios 
Guaranis.  The  Malouine,  or  Falkland,  Islands, 
and  the  new  settlements  on  the  coast  of  Patagonia 
were  dependencies  of  the  government  of  the  vice- 
royalty.  The  officials  of  these  regions  were  sub- 
ordinated to  that  government,  ''and  they  formed 
an  integral  part  of  the  administration  of  the  gov- 
ernmental district  of  the  viceroy."" 


VII 

The  viceroy,  on  retiring  from  office,  made,  for 
the  benefit  of  his  successors,  a  somewhat  detailed 
account  of  his  administration,  and  of  the  ques- 
tions, solved  and  unsolved,  that  had  engaged  his 
official  attention.  This  practice  was  continued  in 
the  viceroyalty  of  Rio  de  la  Plata.  Ceballos,  in  his 
memorial  for  his  successor,  referred  to  his  efforts 
to  fortify  the  frontier  against  the  Indians,  and,  in 
order  that  Vertiz  might  be  in  a  position  to  main- 
tain this  defense,  he  gave  him  an  account  of  the 
arms  and  munitions  available  for  this  purpose. 

10  Quesada,  V.  6.,  Vireinnto,  130;  on  the  political  geography 
of  this  part  of  the  world  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  see 
Bevista  del  archivo  general  de  Buenos  Aires,  by  TreUes,  IV, 
99-278. 


VICEROY ALTY  OF  RIO  DE  LA  PLATA     171 

At  the  same  time  he  gave  him  the  necessary  infor- 
mation concerning  the  soldiers  who  were  in  the 
service  or  who  might  be  drawm  into  it.  In  this 
document  Ceballos  also  provided  for  the  repatria- 
tion of  the  Portuguese  soldiers  who  had  been  sent 
to  the  region  about  Mendoza,  as  well  as  of  the 
Portuguese  inhabitants  of  Colonia,  in  case  they 
did  not  wish  to  remain  under  Spanish  rule.  They 
should  be  assisted  with  transportation,  but  only 
in  case  they  had  paid  their  debts,  or  otherwise 
satisfied  their  creditors.  He,  moreover,  empha- 
sized the  need  of  supporting  the  missions  of  the 
Gran  Chaco,  not  merely  because  of  the  desira- 
bility of  bringing  to  the  Indians  a  knowledge  of 
Christianity,  but  also  in  order  to  forestall  the 
encroachments  of  the  Portuguese  in  that  region." 
The  ill  success  of  the  administration  of  the  Para- 
guayan missions  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits 
induced  Ceballos  to  commend  the  problem  of  their 
reform  to  the  consideration  of  Vertiz.^- 

There  was  abundant  evidence  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century  that  the  Spanish  colonial  sys- 
tem had  failed  to  reach  the  ends  for  which  it 
was  designed  by  the  king  and  his  council.  The 
Indians,  in  spite  of  the  benevolent  intentions  of 
the  supreme  government,  suffered  a  barbarous 
and  destructive  oppression  at  the  hands  of  prac- 
tically irresponsible  officials.  Yet  before  the  mid- 
dle of  the  century  the  Spanish  king  had  in  his 

11  Trelles,  Eevista  del  archivo  general  de  Buenos  Aires,  Buenos 
Aires,  1870,  II,  427. 

12  Trelles,  Bevista  del  archvvo  general,  II,  434. 


172  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

possession  the  Noticias  secretas  de  America,  which 
left  no  ground  for  doubting  the  necessity  of 
reform.  The  establishment  of  the  liberal  com- 
mercial code  of  1778  magnified  the  difficulties  of 
administering  the  colonies  under  the  old  organ- 
ization; and,  in  the  presence  of  the  complicated 
and  difficult  problem,  the  kings  before  Charles  III 
had  been  helpless,  and  their  helplessness  had  made 
more  evident  the  need  of  a  modification  of  the 
existing  system. 

The  appointment  of  Ceballos  introduced  a 
governmental  reform  in  these  southwestern  prov- 
inces. The  viceroy  became  the  single  dominant 
authority  for  the  entire  viceroyalty.  The  gov- 
ernors in  the  several  provinces  were  subordinated 
to  him.  The  viceroy  was,  however,  always  under 
the  laws  of  the  Indies  and  such  other  orders  as 
might  be  issued  by  the  king  and  the  Council  of 
the  Indies.  These  constituted  the  supreme  law 
under  which  the  viceregal  government  existed. 
The  vicero}^  was  not  assisted  by  ministers,  but 
there  was  a  secretary  of  the  viceroyalty. 

The  several  provinces,  Cuyo  and  those  of 
Upper  Peru  and  the  rest,  after  the  organization 
of  this  viceroyalty  sent  their  accounts  to  the 
auditor 's  office  and  the  tribunal  of  accounts  at  the 
capital.  The  viceroy  was  the  single  superior,  in 
the  beginning,  in  whom  all  the  authority  of  the 
viceroyalty  was  centered;  but  when  it  was  deter- 
mined to  make  the  viceregal  organization  in  this 
part  of  the  continent  permanent,  it  was  thought 


VICEROYALTY  OF  RIO  DE  LA  PLATA     173 

to  be  advisable  to  create  a  general  superintendent 
of  the  treasury  with  important  powers,  and  rep- 
resenting the  supreme  authority  of  Spain  in  mat- 
ters relating  to  the  treasury.  This  arrangement 
became  effective  with  the  appointment  of  Vertiz 
to  succeed  Ceballos.  At  this  time  Manuel  Ignacio 
Fernandez  was  made  general  intendant  of  the 
army  and  the  royal  treasury  in  the  provinces  of 
Rio  de  la  Plata  and  all  the  other  provinces  subject 
to  the  viceregal  government.  There  was  thus 
introduced  a  dual  government,  the  inconveniences 
of  which  showed  themselves  very  early.  Under 
this  system  the  viceroy's  government  was  without 
a  revenue  which  it  could  control;  and  the  intend- 
ant lacked  the  power  necessary  to  give  his  orders 
effective  force.  But  all  doubts  or  confusion  with 
respect  to  the  jurisdiction  of  these  two  function- 
aries were  set  aside  by  the  publication  of  the 
Ordenanza  de  Intendentes}^ 

Two  years  after  the  creation  of  the  inten- 
dencies,  the  king  amended  the  commercial  code  of 
1778.  This  he  did  by  freeing  entirely  from  duties 
all  Spanish  wines,  spirits,  agricultural  products, 
and  manufactured  articles,  and  by  reducing  from 
four  to  two  per  cent  the  duties  on  foreign  goods 
carried  from  Spanish  ports  that  were  permitted 
to  trade  with  Ajnerica.  This  decree  was  dated  at 
San  Ildefonso  August  5,  1784. 

13  The  complete  title  of  this  law  was,  Eeal  ordenanza  para  el 
establecimiento  e  instruccion  de  intendentes  de  exercito  y  provincia 
en  el  vireinato  de  Buenos  Aires,  Ano  de  178S. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU 

I.  Abuse  of  the  Indians  by  the  corregidores.  II.  Areche 
as  visitador-general.  III.  Tupac  Amaru.  IV.  The 
beginning  of  hostilities.  V.  The  events  of  Oruro 
and  Sangarara.  VI.  Hopes  and  aims  of  Tupac 
Amaru.  VII.  The  overthrow  and  execution  of  the 
Inca.  VIII.  The  sieges  of  Sorata  and  La  Paz. 
IX.  Results  of  the  war. 


Twenty  years  after  Juan  and  Ulloa  had  pre- 
pared their  extended  comment  on  the  excesses  of 
the  corregidores  and  the  parish  priests,  the  city 
of  Cuzco  treated  of  the  same  subject  in  an  elab- 
orate report  to  the  king,  dated  August  27,  1768. 
The  original  purpose  in  creating  the  office  of  cor- 
regidor,  as  represented  in  this  reoprt,  was  to 
place  in  each  district  a  person  who  should  hold  a 
paternal  relation  to  the  Indians  within  his  juris- 
diction ;  who  should  be  their  judge,  their  superior, 
and  should  treat  them  with  pious  consideration. 
At  first  by  reason  of  the  abundance  prevailing  in 
the  districts,  the  corregidores  had  opportunities  for 
legitimate  gains,  but  with  the  diminution  of  this 
abundance  they  resorted  to  illegitimate  means  to 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  175 

increase  their  fortunes;  they  forced  the  Indians 
to  buy  articles  they  did  not  need  at  prices  fixed 
by  the  corregidor,  who  after  a  while  carried  on 
this  traffic  as  if  no  legal  prohibition  existed/ 

In  1749,  the  viceroy  had  already  made  a  vigor- 
ous protest  against  the  corregidor 's  practice  of 
throwing  upon  the  Indians  by  a  forced  sale 
articles  entirely  useless  to  them :  silk  stockings  to 
persons  who  wore  no  shoes ;  spectacles  to  persons 
who  had  no  defect  of  vision;  hats  of  a  normal 
value  of  sixty  cents,  at  nine  dollars ;  silks,  brocades, 
velvets,  together  with  numberless  articles  equally 
useless.  In  order  to  pay  for  these  things  the 
Indian  was  often  obliged  to  surrender  his  domes- 
tic animal  or  animals,  his  principal  means  of 
support.  Obedience  to  superior  regulations  re- 
specting the  distribution  of  wares  in  the  several 
districts  might  have  brought  relief  to  the  Indians 
and  immunity  to  the  corregidores  from  later  ven- 
geance; but  the  avarice  of  these  officials  would 
brook  no  check,  and  more  and  more  wares  useless 
to  the  Indians  were  forced  upon  them.  By  this 
process  the  natives  were  placed,  almost  without 
exception,  under  an  obligation  to  pay  that  could 
be  met  only  by  the  most  strenuous  effort  and 
ruinous  sacrifices.  Inability  to  meet  these  burden- 
some obligations  was  followed  by  the  forced  sale 
of  all  of  the  Indian's  property,  even  to  the  total 
distraction  of  his  poor  and  wretched  habitation. 

One  instance  from  an  almost  endless  list  is  that 
of  a  corregidor  near  Cuzco,  who  assigned  to  an 

1  Belaciones  de  los  vireyes  y  adiencias,  Madrid,  1872,  III,  211. 


176  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

Indian  wares  for  which  the  Indian  was  obliged  to 
pay  three  hundred  and  forty  pesos.  As  he  could 
not  use  them,  he  sold  them  in  the  city,  and  was 
able  to  get  only  twenty-five  pesos  for  them.  This 
sum  he  paid  to  the  corregidor,  who  for  the  balance 
took  from  the  Indian  his  little  piece  of  land,  or 
farm,  and  all  the  rest  of  his  property.  After  this 
the  Indian  expressed  his  satisfaction,  that,  having 
no  more  property,  he  was  free  from  further 
repartimientos.^ 

It  is  significant  that  the  exposition  of  the 
excesses  of  the  corregidores  and  the  parish  priest 
made  by  the  city  of  Cuzco,  in  1768,  shows  a  sur- 
vival of  all  the  abuses  that  provoked  condemna- 
tion by  Juan  and  Ulloa  two  decades  earlier.^  The 
tragedies  that  resulted  from  the  corregidor 's 
exactions,  depriving  the  Indians  of  means  of  sup- 
port, are  repeated  and  multiplied,  indicating  that, 
in  spite  of  all  opposing  influences,  the  cupidity 
and  arrogance  of  the  corregidores  and  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Indians  persisted.  The  viceroy  had 
apparently  exhausted  the  resources  of  his  influ- 
ence for  reform,  and  the  Indians  had  to  face  the 
alternatives  of  either  fleeing  for  refuge  to  the 
mountains  and  the  forests  or  rising  in  rebellion 
against  their  oppressors.  Still,  for  more  than  a 
decade  of  this  time  of  slow  movements  the  Indians 
continued  to  bear  their  burdens  and  suffer  the 
outrages  imposed  upon  them  by  the  corregidores. 

2  Eelaciones  de  los  vireyes  y  aitdienda^,  III,  219. 

3  The  title  of  Cuzco 's  protest  was :  * '  Eepresentacion  de  la 
ciudad  del  Cuzco,  en  el  ano  de  1768,  sobre  excesos  de  corregidores 
y  euras,"  in  Eelaciones  de  los  vireyes  y  audiencias,  III,  207-306. 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  177 


II 

It  was  not  only  the  greed  of  subordinates,  but 
also  the  demands  of  the  crown  that  piled  the 
burden  on  the  unfortunate  Indian.  In  the  reign  of 
Viceroy  Manuel  de  Guirior  (1776-1781),  Amat's 
successor,  the  king  sent  Jose  Antonio  de  Areche 
to  Peru  as  visitador-general,  with  powers  superior 
in  important  particulars  to  those  of  the  viceroy. 
Areche  arrived  in  Lima  on  the  14th  of  June,  1777. 
Although  a  member  of  the  Council  of  tha  Indies, 
he  lacked  intimate  knowledge  of  the  affairs'T)f  the 
inhabitants  of  the  dependencies.  Guirior,  on  the 
other  hand,  as  viceroy  of  New  Granada,  had  de- 
rived from  experience  among  the  people  a  prac- 
tical knowledge  not  possessed  by  any  official  who 
had  viewed  America  only  from  Madrid. 

In  1777  and  1778,  numerous  social  movements 
at  various  points  in  the  viceroyalty,  promoted  by 
other  classes  than  the  Indians,  claimed  much  of 
the  attention  of  the  government.  Without  inquir- 
ing into  the  causes  of  these  disturbances,  Areche 
proceeded  to  form  plans  for  increasing  the  royal 
revenues.  But  Guirior  had  also  contributed  to 
the  public  discontent  by  imposing  a  tax  of  twelve^ 
and  one-half  per  cent  on  alcoholic  liquors.  The 
abuses  of  the  corregidor's  administration  still 
called  loudly  for  reform,  and  provoked  an  inquiry 
into  the  desirability  of  abolishing  the  system 
of  repartimientos.  Areche  proposed,  among  his 
changes  of  taxation,  to  increase  the  alcabala  from 


178  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

four  to  six  per  cent.  As  this  was  a  tax  on  all 
articles  at  the  time  of  sale,  its  wide  application 
caused  general  dissatisfaction,  intensified  by  the 
knowledge  that  this  new  contribution  was  not  to 
be  expended  for  the  welfare  of  the  viceroyalty, 
but  was  to  be  transported  to  Spain.  Although 
the  Indians  by  a  special  law  were  exempted  from 
paying  this  tax  on  the  products  of  their  harvest 
and  their  industry,*  there  was  here,  however,  an 
opportunity  for  abuse;  it  w^as  often  improved  by 
the  unscrupulous  corregidor,  who  by  this  viola- 
tion of  the  law  added  to  the  grievances  and  the 
hostility  of  the  Indians.  Other  changes  made  by 
Areche,  increasing  existing  taxes  and  imposing 
new  taxes,  called  forth  protests  from  the  cabildo 
of  Lima  and  the  tribunal  of  the  consulado.  In 
fact,  the  outcry  against  taxes  in  the  viceroyalties 
of  Peru  and  New  Granada  appears  like  an  echo 
of  the  opposition  that  had  already  found  voice 
in  the  British  colonies  of  North  America. 

The  disturbance  caused  by  Areche 's  rash 
interference  and  changes  in  the  affairs  of  the 
administration  justified  Viceroy  Montesclaros' 
comparison  of  the  coming  of  a  visitador  to  a  little 
whirlwind.  Not  content  with  raising  the  dust 
about  the  ears  of  the  officials,  Areche  conceived  of 
the  viceroy  as  his  hostile  rival,  and  presented  to 
the  supreme  government  a  list  of  charges  against 
him.  Guirior  thus  found  himself  not  only  per- 
sonally attacked  but  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom 

4Mendiburu,  I,  321. 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  179 

turned  into  confusion.  Areche's  charges  had 
much  weight  with  the  government  in  Spain,  par- 
ticularly with  Jose  de  Galvez,  who  advocated,  and 
succeeded  in  effecting,  the  removal  of  the  viceroy 
from  office.  Guirior's  successor,  Agustin  de 
Jauregui  (1780-1784),  who  arrived  in  Lima  in 
July,  1780,  found  the  spirit  of  rebellion  rife 
throughout  the  viceroyalty.  But  the  local  revolts 
in  several  of  the  cities,  Cuzco,  Arequipa,  Huan- 
cavelica,  were  early  overshadowed  by  the  great 
Indian  uprising  against  the  corregidores. 

Ill 

The  officers  of  the  government,  both  in  Spain 
and  America,  knew  that  the  movement  led  by 
Tupac  Amaru  had  its  origin  in  the  abuses  perpe- 
trated by  the  administration,  and  in  the  wrongs 
inflicted  on  the  Indians  by  the  parish  priests,  the 
corregidores,  and  the  owners  of  manufacturing 
establishments.  The  various  reports  that  had 
reached  the  viceroys,  the  audiencias,  the  Council 
of  the  Indies,  and  the  king  left  no  doubt  as  to  the 
sources  of  the  grievances  provoking  rebellion. 
Circulars  and  royal  orders  had  been  issued  for 
the  purpose  of  setting  aside  abuses,  but  the 
officials  in  America  had  long  since  ceased  to  be 
scrupulously  obedient  to  the  commands  of  their 
superiors.  Royal  orders  had  very  little  effect 
when  they  ran  counter  to  the  interests  or  wishes 
of  an  influential  class  in  the  colonies.     The  In- 


180  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

dian's  life  continued  to  be  one  of  uninterrupted 
privation  and  suffering,  and  he  had  little  hope  of 
a  better  fate  for  his  children.  The  orders  of 
the  supreme  government  and  the  decrees  of  the 
viceroys  brought  him  no  relief.  The  merciless 
exactions  of  the  priests,  the  exhausting  labor  in 
the  mines,  and  the  deadly  oppression  of  the 
obrajes  had  become  a  fixed  tradition.  The  only 
basis  of  hope,  and  that  very  uncertain,  lay  in 
revolt;  and  this  fact  furnishes  an  explanation  of 
the  frequent  uprisings  and  conspiracies  that 
appeared  in  the  colonies  during  the  later  decades 
of  Spanish  domination.^ 

The  revolt  of  Tupac  Amaru  and  the  insurrec- 
tion of  the  communeros  of  New  Granada  belong 
to  the  same  narrow  period.  Tupac  Amaru  raised 
his  standard  in  November,  1780,  and  the  hostili- 
ties of  the  comuneros  began  in  March,  1781.  The 
Inca  was  overthrown  in  May,  and  the  comuneros 
capitulated  in  June,  1781.  The  revolt  of  Tupac 
Amaru  was  not  without  its  forerunners,  but  it 
gave  the  fullest  expression  to  the  hatred  that  had 
been  provoked  by  a  long  period  of  oppression. 
Tupac  Amaru  had  doubtless  long  considered  his 
plan ;  but  in  1780,  he  seized  the  opportunity  for  its 
execution  presented  by  the  general  dissatisfaction 
and  incipient  revolutions.  He  was  born  at  Tinta 
in  1742,  and  was  baptized  as  Jose  Gabriel  Condor- 
canqui.  As  the  son  of  a  chief,  more  attention  was 
given  to  his  education  than  to  that  of  most  Indian 

5  For  a  list  of  these  revolts,  see  Mendiburu,  VIII,  121-126. 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  181 

boys.  His  instructors  were  two  clergymen  of 
Upper  Peru,  Antonio  Lopez,  the  cura  of  Pam- 
pamarca,  and  Carlos  Rodriguez,  the  cura  o^ 
Yanaoca.  While  still  very  young  he  was  admitted 
to  the  Jesuit  college  of  San  Borja  at  Cuzco,  which 
had  been  established  to  furnish  instruction  to  the 
sons  of  Indian  chiefs.  At  the  age  of  eighteen,  in 
1760,  he  was  married  to  Micaela  Bastides,  and 
before  he  was  twenty  he  succeeded  his  father  as 
cacique  of  Tungasuca,  in  the  province  of  Tinta, 
and  other  villages  that  overlook  the  valley  of 
Vilcamayu.  His  pretension  as  heir  of  the  Incas 
was  admitted  by  the  Indians,  and  about  1770  the 
royal  audiencia  acknowledged  his  claim  to  the 
marquisate  of  Oropesa.  This  honor  had  been 
conferred  upon  his  family  by  Philip  II,  and  now, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  Tupac  Amaru  was 
officially  declared  to  be  the  lineal  descendant  of 
the  Inca  Tupac  Amaru  who  was  executed  by  the 
viceroy  Toledo,  in  1571. 

The  recongition  of  the  young  cacique  as  the 
representative  of  the  ancient  Inca  family  and  as 
the  bearer  of  a  Spanish  title  of  nobility  naturally 
awakened  his  pride  and  intensified  his  sense  of 
the  wrongs  his  people  had  suffered.  The  enjoy- 
ment by  an  Indian  of  the  wealth  and  the  dignity 
that  attached  to  the  marquisate  of  Oropesa  had 
been  regarded  as  a  source  of  danger,  and  it  had 
been  recommended  that  all  claimants  to  the  mar- 
quisate should  be  obliged  to  live  in  Spain.  This 
recommendation  had,  however,  not  been  carried 


182  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

out,  and  Tupac  Amaru  remained  in  his  native  dis- 
trict and  continued  to  govern  the  villages  of 
Tungasuca,  Surimani,  and  Pampamarca.  His 
administration  within  this  narrow  field  showed 
careful  attention  to  the  interests  of  the  Indians, 
and  made  him  conspicuous  among  the  caciques  for 
his  practical  sense.  He  sought  to  make  the  Span- 
iards of  his  acquaintance  appreciate  the  unfor- 
tunate condition  of  his  countrymen;  and  at  the 
same  time  he  did  much  to  relieve  their  distress. 
In  some  cases  he  paid  the  tribute  of  the  poor, 
and  in  other  cases  he  supported  whole  families 
that  had  been  reduced  to  want.®  For  several 
years  he  tried  every  available  means  to  redress 
the  grievances  of  his  people,  and  when  he  finally 
took  up  arms  against  the  Spanish  authorities,  he 
did  it  because  no  other  course  appeared  to  offer 
a  ray  of  hope.  He  had  appealed  to  the  ecclesi- 
astics and  had  petitioned  the  king;  but  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  corregidores,  in  their  immediate 
control  of  affairs,  was  sufficient  to  defeat  all 
favorable  reforms  the  king  had  been  persuaded  to 
order.  The  burdens  of  the  Indians  increased,  and 
hope  of  peaceful  relief  disappeared.  The  resort 
•)>  to  arms  was  a  last  resort.j  But  even  when  hostili- 
ties had  been  determined  upon,  the  end  sought 
was  not  independence  from  Spain,  *'but  to  obtain 
some  guarantee  for  the  due  observance  of  the 
laws,  and  their  just  administration.  His  views 
were  certainly  confined  to  these  ends  when  he  first 

6  Funes,  Ensayo  de  la  M^toria  civil  de  Buenos  Aires,  Tucuman 
of  Paraguay,  Buenos  Aires,  1856,  II,  234. 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  183 

drew  his  sword,  although  afterwards,  when  his 
moderate  demands  were  only  answered  by  cruel 
taunts  and  brutal  menaces,  he  saw  that  indepen- 
dence or  death  were  the  only  alternatives.'" 

IV 

The  immediate  occasion  of  active  hostilities 
was  the  conduct  of  Antonio  Aliaga,  corregidor  of 
Tinta,  in  oppressing  the  Indians  within  his  juris- 
diction, which  included  the  villages  controlled  by 
the  Inca.  The  unjust  acts  of  the  corregidor  had 
already  called  forth  threats  of  assassination,  and 
he  had  yielded  in  individual  cases  without  modify- 
ing his  general  policy.  He  had  also  encroached 
upon  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Church,  and  had  been 
excommunicated  by  the  ecclesiastical  authorities 
at  Cuzco.  Since  the  Church  had  condemned  him, 
it  might  be  supposed  that  the  Inca  would  hesitate 
less  than  under  other  circumstances  in  proceeding 
violently  against  him. 

On  the  4th  of  November,  1780,  the  corregidor 
and  Tupac  Amaru  dined  with  Dr.  Carlos  Rod- 
riguez, the  cura  of  Yanaoca,  who  by  this  dinner 
celebrated  his  name-day.  The  Inca  found  an 
excuse  to  withdraw  early,  and  with  a  few  attend- 
ants ambushed  the  corregidor  when  he  appeared 
a  little  later,  and  took  him  as  a  prisoner  to  Tunga- 
suca.  By  compelling  the  corregidor  to  sign  an 
order  for  the  money  in  the  provincial  treasury, 

7  Markham,  Travels  in  Peru  and  India,  London,  1862,  139. 


184  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

Tupac  Amaru  received  twenty-two  thousand  dol- 
lars in  money,  and,  in  addition,  a  certain  amount 
of  gold  in  ingots,  seventy-five  muskets,  and  a  num- 
ber of  baggage  horses  and  mules.  Tupac  Amaru 
determined  that  the  corregidor  should  suffer 
death  as  a  punishment  for  the  wrongs  done  the 
Indians.  He  gathered  a  large  force  of  his  fol- 
lowers about  him,  sent  for  his  old  teacher,  the 
cura  of  Pampamarca,  and  ordered  him  to  inform 
the  corregidor  of  his  fate.  He  also  instructed  him 
to  administer  to  the  corregidor  the  last  religious 
rites.  The  ceremonies  of  the  execution,  on  the 
10th  of  November,  were  calculated  to  impress  the 
Indians  with  the  idea  that  a  new  power  had  arisen. 
The  armed  retainers  of  the  Inca  were  drawn  up 
in  three  lines  around  the  scaffold  on  the  plaza  of 
Tungasuca,  and  the  Inca  seized  the  occasion  to 
explain  his  conduct  and  policy  to  those  who  had 
assembled  to  witness  the  remarkable  scene. 

The  Inca's  declaration  moved  the  assembled 
Indians  to  affirm  their  loyalty  and  willingness  to 
obey  his  orders,  and  the  work  of  bringing  them 
together  into  a  military  force  under  properly 
appointed  officers  was  carried  vigorously  forward. 
The  first  expedition  was  directed  against  the  cor- 
regidor of  the  province  of  Quispicanchi,  in  the 
valley  of  Vilcamayu.  It  was  led  by  Tupac  Amaru, 
but  before  he  arrived  at  Quiquijana,  the  provin- 
cial capital,  the  corregidor  had  fled  to  Cuzco, 
carrying  to  that  city  the  news  of  the  revolt.  Dis- 
appointed in  not  being  able  to  capture  the  cor- 


KEVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  185 

regidor,  the  expedition  returned  to  Tungasuca, 
having  plundered  several  mills,  and  taken  a  large 
amount  of  clothing  for  his  followers,  eighteen 
thousand  yards  of  woolen  and  sixty  thousand 
yards  of  cotton  cloth,  together  with  a  quantity 
of  firearms  and  two  pieces  of  artillery.  The 
special  reason  for  hostility  to  the  owners  of  these 
manufacturing  establishments  was  their  conduct 
in  a  rigid  and  unmerciful  enforcement  of  the  mita, 
and  their  cruelties  to  the  women  and  children 
employed.  Tupac  Amaru  had  already  under  his 
command  6000  men,  300  of  whom  had  firearms. 
After  this  expedition,  the  revolt  spread  rapidly 
over  the  region  now  comprising  the  southern  part 
of  Peru,  Bolivia,  and  the  northern  part  of  the 
Argentine  Republic.  It  embraced  practically  all 
of  the  inhabitants  except  a  few  Europeans  and 
Creoles. 

V 

The  events  in  Oruro  were  indicative  of  the 
happenings  in  other  places.  The  Spanish  Euro- 
peans were  the  special  object  of  Indian  and  mes- 
tizo hostility.  Their  riches  excited  the  covetous 
zeal  of  the  insurgents.  Frightened  by  the  sudden 
uprising  and  by  the  destruction  and  death  in  the 
track  of  the  rebellions,  they  took  refuge  in  the 
house  of  Endeiza;  and  when  the  house  had  been 
set  on  fire,  they  fled  only  to  fall,  to  the  number 
of  between  thirty  and  forty,  into  the  hands  of 
their  murderers.     The  seven  hundred  thousand 


186  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

pesos  deposited  here,  belonging  to  Endeiza  and 
other  rich  merchants,  were  seized  by  the  rebels 
as  booty.  The  distribution  of  these  spoils  in- 
creased the  desire  for  other  captures,  and  facili- 
tated the  formation  of  an  insurgent  force,  said 
to  consist  of  twenty  thousand  men.  Every  com- 
mercial house  was  looted,  and  the  proprietors, 
with  few  exceptions,  were  killed.  There  was  de- 
struction on  every  side ;  churches  were  desecrated, 
houses  were  destroyed,  women  sought  refuge  in 
the  convents,  and  bodies  were  strewn  about  the 
plazas.® 

Eeports  of  the  progress  of  the  insurrection 
induced  the  viceroy  of  Peru  to  send  to  Cuzco 
General  Jose  Antonio  del  Valle  and  Jose  Antonio 
Areche,  the  visitador-general.  At  Cuzco  Areche 
was  able  to  muster  a  force  of  17,000  men.  At  the 
same  time  the  viceroy  of  Buenos  Aires  sent  three 
detachments  under  General  Flores,  designed  to 
subdue  the  revolt  in  the  southern  towns  of  the 
disturbed  region. 

The  news  of  the  revolt  brought  consternation  to 
Cuzco.  Two  regiments  which  garrisoned  the  city 
turned  the  Jesuit  college  into  a  citadel,  and  steps 
were  immediately  taken  to  increase  the  forces  for 
defense.  The  Spaniards  and  Creoles  in  the  city 
were  enlisted,  and  messengers  were  sent  to  other 
towns  for  assistance.  On  the  13th  of  November 
Tiburcio  de  Landa,  the  governor  of  Paucartambo, 
led  a  force  of  about  one  thousand  men  up  the 

8  Funes,  Ensayo  de  la  Historia  civil  de  Buenos  Aires,  Tucuman 
y  Paraguay,  Buenos  Aires,  1856,  II,  244. 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  187 

valley  of  Vilcamayu  to  meet  the  enemy.  Several 
hundred  of  these  were  friendly  Indians.  This 
little  army  advanced  as  far  as  Sangarara,  where 
they  found  themselves  surrounded  by  a  superior 
force  of  Indians  under  the  Inca.  This  fact  and 
the  appearance  of  a  severe  snowstorm  induced 
Landa  to  retreat  and  take  refuge  in  a  church. 
Here  negotiations  w^ere  opened  between  him  and 
Tupac  Amaru.  Landa  wished  to  know  the  Inca's 
intentions,  and  to  this  inquiry  Tupac  replied  with 
the  suggestion  that  all  Americans  should  pass 
over  to  his  camp,  where  they  would  be  treated  as 
patriots,  since  he  was  proceeding  only  against 
Euro^ans,  corregidores,  and  employees  of  the 
customs.^  These  terms  having  been  rejected,  the 
Inca  wrote  to  the  cura,  asking  him  to  take  away 
the  women  and  children,  but  the  Spanish  troops 
prevented  this,  and  in  the  struggle  that  ensued 
the  powder  on  hand  was  exploded,  blowing  off  the 
roof  and  throwing  down  one  of  the  walls  of  the 
church.  Immediately  after  this  calamity  the 
Spaniards  charged  the  enemy,  but  in  spite  of  their 
heroic  onslaught  they  were  nearly  all  cut  down; 
there  remained  only  twenty-eight,  all  of  whom 
were  wounded.  These,  however,  recovered  from 
their  wounds  in  the  course  of  time,  and  were  set 
at  liberty.  Among  the  killed  were  Tiburcio  de 
Landa,  the  chief  in  command,  his  lieutenant  Esca- 
jadillo,  Cabrera,  the  corregidor  of  Quispicanchi, 

9  Ferrer   del  Eio,  A.,  Historia   del  reinado   de  Carlos  HI   en 
Espana,  Madrid,  1856,  III,  418. 


188  SPAIN'S   DECLINING    POWER 

who  had  fled  from  his  province  to  Cuzco,  and 
Sahuaraura,  the  cacique  of  Oropesa,  who  had  led 
the  Indian  contingent  of  the  Spanish  forces. 

VI 

Immediately  after  the  overthrow  of  the  Span- 
ish forces  at  Sangarara,  the  way  to  Cuzco  was 
apparently  open  to  the  victor.  The  city  was  in 
great  confusion  and  only  imperfectly  defended. 
Tupac  Amaru  still  believed,  however,  that,  on 
account  of  the  justice  of  his  cause,  he  could 
attain  his  object  by  negotiation.  With  a  view, 
therefore,  of  treating  with  the  enemy,  he  estab- 
lished his  followers  in  an  encampment  near  Tinta. 
He  then  issued  a  proclamation,  setting  forth  the 
grievances  that  led  to  the  revolt,  and  denounced 
the  tyranny  of  the  Spanish  officials  as  cruel  and 
impious.  At  the  same  time  he  saw  the  possibility 
of  failing  by  peaceable  means,  and  called  upon  the 
Indians  to  join  his  forces. 

In  the  meantime  the  cabildo  of  Cuzco  prepared 
to  resist  the  threatened  attack.  It  collected  arms, 
repaired  six  old  field-pieces,  and  began  to  make 
powder.  Reinforcements  were  received  from 
Urubamba,  Calca,  and  other  places.  Volunteers 
from  the  inhabitants  were  brought  into  the  mili- 
tary force,  and  the  clergy,  ordered  out  by  the 
bishop,  were  organized  into  four  companies  under 
the  command  of  Dr.  Manuel  de  Mendieta.  At  the 
end  of  November,  Cuzco  had  three  thousand  men 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  189 

in  arms.  Still  the  authorities  felt  insecure,  and 
in  order  to  ward  off  the  danger  of  a  general  upris- 
ing of  the  Indians,  they  abolished  the  reparti- 
mientos  and  the  alcabala,  and  made  known  by 
proclamation  these  and  other  concessions. 

Instead  of  leading  his  forces  directly  against 
Cuzco,  Tupac  Amaru  visited  several  towns  or 
villages  in  the  district,  where  he  called  the  inhab- 
itants together  and  told  them  that  the  object  of 
his  campaign  was  to  correct  abuses,  punish  the 
corregidores,  and  release  the  people  from  their 
burdens.  He  was  everywhere  received  by  the 
Indians  with  enthusiasm  and  greeted  by  them  as 
their  Inca  and  Redeemer.  Mr.  Markham  refers 
to  a  private  letter,  dated  January,  1781,  which 
describes  the  Inca's  entrance  into  Azangaro.  He 
rode  a  white  horse,  with  splendidly  embroidered 
trappings;  two  fair  men,  like  Englishmen,  of 
commanding  aspect,  accompanied  him,  one  on  the 
right  and  the  other  on  the  left.  ''He  was  armed 
with  a  gun,  sword,  and  pistols,  and  was  dressed 
in  blue  velvet,  richly  embroidered  with  gold,  with 
a  three-cornered  hat,  and  an  uncu,  in  the  shape 
of  a  bishop's  rochet,  over  all,  with  a  gold  chain 
round  his  neck,  to  which  a  large  golden  sun  was 
attached. '"° 

News  of  the  military  preparations  of  the 
Spaniards  called  Tupac  Amaru  back  from  the 
south,  and  led  him  to  concentrate  his  army  in  the 
neighborhood    of    Cuzco.     A   detachment    under 

10  Markham,  Travels  in  Peru  and  India,  145, 


190  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

Antonio  Castelo,  proceeding  directly  to  the  city, 
was  defeated  at  Saylla,  a  place  about  two  leagues 
from  Cuzco,  but  it  finally  reached  the  main  body 
of  the  Inca's  army.  While  encamped  on  the 
heights  of  Picchu,  overlooking  the  town,  Tupac 
Amaru  wrote  to  the  cabildo  and  the  bishop.  These 
letters  were  dated  January  3,  1781.  In  the  letter 
to  the  cabildo,  he  affirmed  his  position  as  the  heir 
of  the  Incas,  and  declared  that  he  was  moved  to 
try  by  all  possible  means  to  put  an  end  to  abuses, 
and  to  have  men  appointed  to  govern  the  Indians 
who  would  follow  the  laws  laid  down  by  the  Span- 
ish authorities.  He  declared  that  the  punishment 
of  the  corregidor  of  Tinta  was  necessary  as  an 
example  to  others;  and  proclaimed  the  object  of 
the  rebellion  to  be  the  entire  abolition  of  reparti- 
mientos,  the  appointment  of  an  alcalde  mayor,  or 
judge  in  every  province,  and  the  establishment  of 
an  audiencia,  or  court  of  appeal,  with  a  viceroy 
as  president,  at  Cuzco,  within  reach  of  the  In- 
dians ;  but  he  did  not  aim  to  overthrow  the  author- 
ity of  the  king  of  Spain.  In  the  letter  to  the 
bishop,  he  announced  that  he  appeared,  on  behalf 
of  the  nation,  to  put  an  end  to  the  robberies  and 
outrages  of  the  corregidores ;  and  at  the  same 
time  he  promised  to  respect  the  priests,  all  church 
property,  the  women,  and  the  inoffensive  and 
unarmed  people. 

The  Spanish  forces  in  Cuzco  were  unwilling 
to  make  terms  with  the  Indians.  They  had  been 
reinforced  by  the  cacique  of  Chinchero  and  his 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  191 

men,  and  by  two  hundred  mulatto  soldiers  from 
Lima.  After  a  period  of  ineffective  skirmishing, 
a  bloody  battle  was  begun,  on  the  8th  of  January, 
in  the  suburbs  of  Cuzco  and  on  the  heights.  It 
lasted  two  days,  and  was  so  far  unfortunate  for 
the  Inca  that  he  was  obliged  to  withdraw  his 
forces  to  Tinta.  The  force  of  six  thousand  men 
that  had  been  sent  to  the  provinces  of  Galea  and 
Paucartambo  made  a  desperate  resistance,  and 
after  the  arrival  of  reinforcements  under  Pablo 
Astete,  Diego  retired  to  Tinta,  on  the  18th  of 
January,  1781.  Here  the  Inca  reorganized  his 
army,  and,  in  union  with  Diego,  made  another 
attack  on  Paucartambo,  on  the  11th  of  February. 
This,  like  the  previous  attempt,  was  unsuccessful, 
and  five  days  later  the  Inca 's  army  was  back  again 
in  Tinta. 

The  force  of  60,000  men  that  Tupac  Amaru 
gathered  at  Tinta  was  more  notable  for  its  num- 
bers than  for  its  discipline  or  its  arms.  Only  a 
few  hundreds  had  muskets.  But  the  multitude 
assembled  showed  how  strong  was  the  feeling 
against  the  abuses  of  the  Spanish  administration. 
The  Indian  and  mestizo  inhabitants  of  the  interior 
of  Central  and  Upper  Peru  were  practically  all 
in  revolt.  Only  sixteen  caciques  adhered  to  the 
Spaniards.  The  threatening  prospect  alarmed 
the  Spanish  officials  in  Peru  and  Buenos  Aires. 
The  viceroy  of  Peru  sent  to  Cuzco  Jose  Antonio 
Areche,  as  visitador,  supported  by  a  military 
force  commanded  by  Jose  del  Valle ;  and  the  vice- 


192  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

roy  of  Buenos  Aires  commissioned  General  Ignacio 
Flores  to  put  down  the  rebellion  in  the  southern 
provinces ;  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  entire  region 
as  far  south  as  Oruro  were  in  a  state  of  revolt. 
Before  the  arrival  of  Flores,  La  Paz,  which  was 
under  the  command  of  Sebastian  de  Segurola,  had 
been  besieged  by  the  Indians  and  subjected  to 
almost  daily  attacks  for  four  months." 

At  Cuzco  General  del  Valle  collected  an  army 
of  15,000  men,  and  prepared  to  enter  upon  the 
campaign.  While  this  army  was  still  at  Cuzco, 
the  Inca  wrote  to  Areche,  the  visitador,  setting 
forth  the  fact  that  the  Spanish  officials  had  re- 
peatedly violated  the  laws  and  had  cruelly 
oppressed  the  Indians ;  at  the  same  time  he  urged 
the  necessity  of  certain  reforms  in  the  admin- 
istration. He,  moreover,  affirmed  his  willingness 
to  enter  into  negotiations  through  which  these 
reforms  might  be  attained  without  further  hos- 
tilities. Areche 's  answer  to  the  Inca's  despatch 
was  a  refusal  to  negotiate,  accompanied  by  a 
brutal  declaration  of  vengeance  and  an  affirmation 
that  if  Tupac  Amaru  would  surrender  at  once  the 
mode  of  his  execution  would  be  less  cruel  than  if 
further  resistance  was  made.^^ 

11  The  events  of  this  siege  are  set  down  in  the  diary  of  the 
commanding  officer  of  the  city.  This  diary  was  edited  several 
years  ago  by  Vicente  de  Ballivian  y  Eoxas  and  was  published  in 
Paris  in  1872,  by  A.  Franck  (F.  Vieweg),  in  the  first  volume  of 
Archivo  Boliviano,  under  the  title  Diario  de  los  sucesos  del  cerco 
de  la  Ciudad  de  La  Paz  en  1781,  hasta  la  total  Pacifica^on  de  la 
rebelion  general  del  Peru. 

12  Markham,  Travels  in  Peru  and  India,  148 ;  for  the  fate  of 
the  Inca's  letter,  see  p.  149,  note. 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  198 

The  attitude  assumed  by  the  brutal  visitador 
Areche  convinced  Tupac  Amaru  that  complete 
independence  or  death  were  the  only  alternatives 
before  him.  But  he  had  not  hitherto  indicated 
that  he  was  seeking  independence;  only  that  he 
aimed  at  such  reforms  in  the  Spanish  administra- 
tion as  would  release  the  Indians  from  oppression. 
There  exists  a  paper,  however,  attributed  to  him 
in  which  he  is  styled  ''Don  Jose  I,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  Inca,  King  of  Peru,  Quito,  Chile,  Buenos 
Aires,  and  the  continents  of  the  South  Sea,  Lord 
of  the  River  of  the  Amazons,  with  dominion  over 
the  Grand  Paytiti."  This  paper,  moreover, 
affirms  that 

**the  king  of  Castile  had  usurped  the  crown  and  domin- 
ions of  Peru,  imposing  innumerable  taxes,  tributes, 
duties,  excises,  monopolies,  tithes,  fifths ;  appointing 
officers  who  sold  justice,  and  treated  the  people  like 
beasts  of  burden.  For  these  causes,  and  by  reason  of 
the  cries  which  have  risen  up  to  heaven,  in  the  name  of 
Almighty  God,  it  is  ordered  that  no  man  shall  hence 
forth  pay  money  to  any  Spanish  officer,  excepting  the 
tithes  to  priests ;  but  that  tribute  shall  be  paid  to  the  Inca^ 
and  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  him  be  taken  in  every  town 
and  village. ' ' 

This  document  is  without  date,  and  it  has  been 
suggested  that  it  was  forged  by  the  Spaniards  to- 
be  used  as  written  evidence  against  the  Inca." 

13  This  letter  is  given  by  Mendiburu,  VIII,  137. 


194  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

VII 

About  the  middle  of  March,  1781,  General  del 
Valle  moved  from  Cuzco  against  the  insurgents. 
His  army  was  composed  of  17,116  men.  His  line 
of  advance  led  along  the  mountains  west  of  the 
Vilcamayu,  where  his  troops  suffered  from  snow- 
storms, the  lack  of  food  and  fuel,  and  the  want 
of  all  commissariat  arrangements.  Finding  his 
position  here  almost  unendurable  both  for  himself 
and  for  his  soldiers,  he  moved  down  from  the 
mountains  and  ascended  the  valley  of  Vilcamayu, 
captured  Quiquijana,  and  near  the  village  of  Che- 
cacupe  encountered  the  Inca's  army  drawn  up 
behind  a  trench  and  a  parapet  that  stretched 
across  the  valley.  Flanking  the  Inca's  forces,  he 
made  an  attack  in  front  and  in  the  rear,  and  drove 
them  back  to  another  entrenchment  at  Combapata. 
The  Indians,  routed  from  this  position,  fell  back 
to  Tinta,  where  they  were  overthrown  by  the 
artillery  fire  and  a  bayonet  charge  of  the  Spanish 
troops.  Tupac  Amaru's  plans  had  failed  because 
of  the  treachery  of  Zunuario  de  Castro,  and  his 
final  undoing  was  due  to  the  traitorous  action 
of  one  of  his  ofl&cers,  Ventura  Landaeta,  who, 
assisted  by  the  cura  of  Lanqui,  delivered  him  and 
his  family  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  after 
he  had  fled  to  that  place  from  Tinta.  With  this 
the  Spaniards  began  their  revolting  course  of 
outrage  and  vengeance.  On  the  day  of  the  Inca  's 
capture  General  del  Valle  hanged  sixty-seven  In- 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  195 

dian  prisoners  at  Tinta,  and  stuck  their  heads  on 
poles  by  the  roadside.  The  chief  prisoners  were 
marched  into  Cuzco.  They  were  the  Inca  Tupac 
Amaru,  his  wife,  his  two  sons,  Hipolito  and  Fer- 
nando, his  uncle  Francisco,  his  brother-in-law 
Antonio  Bastides,  his  maternal  uncle  Patricio 
Noguero,  his  cousin,  Cecilia  Tupac  Amaru,  with 
her  husband,  Pedro  Mandagure,  and  a  number  of 
the  oflScers  of  the  Inca's  army,  and  the  negro 
slave,  Antonio  Oblitas,  who  had  served  as  execu- 
tioner for  the  punishment  of  Aliaga.  They  were 
taken  to  separate  places  of  confinement,  and  in- 
formed that  their  next  meeting  would  be  on  the 
day  of  their  execution. 

The  visitador  Areche  pronounced  the  Inca's 
sentence  on  May  15,  1781.  He  wished  to  show  the 
Indians  that  even  the  high  rank  of  the  heir  of 
the  Incas  could  not  deter  the  Spaniards  from 
imposing  the  extreme  punishment  when  they  con- 
sidered it  deserved.  The  charge  against  this  vic- 
tim of  Spanish  barbarity  was  that  he  had  rebelled 
against  Spain,  that  he  had  destroyed  the  mills, 
that  he  had  abolished  the  mita,  that  he  had  caused 
his  portrait  to  be  painted  dressed  in  the  imperial 
insignia  of  the  uncu  and  mascapaicha,  and  that 
he  had  caused  his  victory  at  Sangarara  to  be 
represented  in  pictures.  He  was  condemned  to 
witness  the  execution  of  his  wife,  a  son,  his  uncle, 
his  brother-in-law  Antonio  Bastides,  and  his  cap- 
tains; to  have  his  tongue  cut  out;  to  be  torn  in 
pieces  by  horses  attached  to  his  limbs  and  driven 


196  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

in  different  directions;  to  have  his  body  burnt  on 
the  heights  of  Picchu,  and  to  have  his  head  and 
arms  and  legs  stuck  on  poles  to  be  set  up  in  the 
different  towns  that  had  been  loyal  to  him;  to 
have  his  houses  demolished,  their  sites  strewn 
with  salt,  his  goods  confiscated,  his  relatives  de- 
clared infamous,  and  all  documents  relating  to  his 
descent  burnt  by  the  hangman.  It  was  also 
provided  that  all  Inca  and  cacique  dresses  should 
be  prohibited,  all  pictures  of  the  Incas  destroyed, 
the  presentation  of  Quichua  dramas  forbidden, 
the  musical  instruments  of  the  Indians  burned; 
all  signs  of  mourning  for  the  Incas,  the  use  of  all 
national  costumes  by  the  Indians,  and  the  use 
of  the  Quichua  language  should  be  prohibited.^* 
This  sentence  in  all  its  barbarity  was  carried  out 
on  the  18th  of  May,  1781. 

VIII 

"With  the  death  of  the  Inca  the  insurrection 
may  be  considered  ended;  nevertheless  many  In- 
dians still  remained  under  arms,  whom  the  bloody 
drama  of  Cuzco,  far  from  discouraging,  only 
seemed  to  have  inspired  with  new  fury.  Thence- 
forward it  was  a  war  of  extermination,  so  much 
so  that  the  number  of  victims  of  the  vengeance 
of  the  Spaniards  and  the  Indians  may  be  reckoned 
at  80,000.'"^    The  surviving  leaders  moved  south- 

14  Memoirs  of  General  Miller,  Spanish  ed.,  Lima,  1861,  vol.  I, 
Appendix  A. 

15  Mendiburu,  VIII,  144. 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  197 

ward,  and,  enraged  by  the  horrible  cruelty  of 
Areche,  their  line  of  march  became  a  path  of 
destruction.  Diego  Cristoval  Tupac  Amaru,  the 
Inca's  cousin,  held  the  chief  command.  After  the 
siege  of  Puno,  Andres  Mandagure  and  Miguel 
Bastides  overran  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Titi- 
caca  and  joined  the  forces  that  were  carrying  on 
the  war  about  Sorata  and  La  Paz.^''  They  *4aid 
siege  to  the  town  of  Sorata,  where  the  Spaniards 
of  the  neighboring  districts  had  taken  refuge  with 
their  families  and  wealth.  The  unarmed  Indians 
were  unequal  to  the  storming  of  fortifications, 
which,  although  constructed  only  of  earth,  were 
lined  with  artillery.  But  their  leader  surmounted 
this  difficulty  by  the  adoption  of  a  measure  that 
would  have  done  credit  to  any  commander.  By 
the  construction  of  a  lengthened  mound  he  col- 
lected the  waters  which  flow  from  the  neighboring 
snowy  heights  of  Ancoma,  and,  turning  them 
against  the  earthern  ramparts,  washed  them 
away.  The  immediate  result  was  the  storming  of 
the  town,  and  the  massacre  of  its  inhabitants,  with 
circumstances  of  horror  exceeding  the  death  of 
Tupac  Amaru. '"^  Practically  all  of  the  inhab- 
itants, about  twenty  thousand  in  number,  were 
killed.    The  clergy  alone  escaped. 

The  siege  of  La  Paz  was  continued  for  six 
months  after  the  death  of  the  Inca.     Like  Sorata, 

16  La  Paz  lies  in  the  upper  end  of  a  vast  canon,  several  hun- 
dred feet  down  in  the  great  gash  that  has  been  cut  in  the  inter- 
andean  plateau,  the  general  surface  of  which  is  over  twelve 
thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

17  Memoirs  of  General  Miller,  I,  18. 


198  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

it  was  a  place  of  refuge  for  the  Spaniards  of  the 
surrounding  country.  In  defending  the  city  the 
commanding  officer  had  constructed  a  line  of  forti- 
fications, but  had  determined  to  include  only  the 
principal  part  of  the  town,  leaving  outside  the 
suburbs  and  several  Indian  villages.  During  the 
continuance  of  the  rebellion  in  the  north,  the 
forces  supporting  the  insurrection  had  been  daily 
increasing  in  the  south,  and  requests  for  assist- 
ance from  the  towns  near-by  were  sent  to  La  Paz, 
with  which  Segurola  complied — as  far  as  possible. 
He  had  also  used  all  available  funds  to  gather 
stores  of  provisions  for  the  city,  which  were 
especially  needed  to  support  the  increasing  num- 
ber of  refugees.  The  story  of  the  progress  of  the 
siege  and  of  the  resistance  offered  by  the  besieged 
is  given  in  the  diary  of  the  commanding  officer, 
Sebastian  de  Segurola.  The  following  extracts 
from  this  diary  show  under  what  disadvantages 
the  Indians  fought;  and  the  fact  that  in  the  face 
of  these  disadvantages  and  of  their  great  losses 
they  persisted  in  the  conflict  for  many  months 
indicates  to  what  a  degree  they  had  been  moved 
by  their  intolerable  grievances. 

''March  27. — This  day  the  Indians  attacked 
with  great  force  all  parts  of  the  city,  setting  fire 
to  the  houses  that  were  outside  of  the  trenches, 
assaulting  these  and  the  wall,  from  which  they 
were  repulsed  with  great  vigor.  This  engagement 
lasted  from  11  o  'clock  in  the  morning  till  4  in  the 
eveninsr.     At  this  hour  the  rebels  retired  with 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  199 

much  loss,  which  was  given  at  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  killed,  without  any  loss  on  our  part. 

' '  March  28. — It  was  recognized  to-day  that  the 
number  of  Indians  who  approached  us  was  con- 
siderably increased.  At  8  o'clock  in  the  morning 
they  attacked  all  parts  of  the  city,  aided  by  some 
guns  which  they  fired,  and  at  the  same  time  they 
went  on  burning  the  houses  outside  of  the  forti- 
fications, and  we  resisted  them  with  great  valor. 
The  attack  lasted  till  5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
when  the  enemy  retired  with  more  than  three 
hundred  and  fifty  dead,  according  to  our  calcula- 
tion, and  on  our  side  we  had  only  two. 

*' March  29. — The  Indians  have  been  coming 
down  from  all  sides  since  daybreak,  and  at  10 
o'clock  assaulted  the  city  with  desperation,  and 
this  attack,  repulsed  by  us,  lasted  till  half-past  5 
in  the  afternoon,  at  which  hour  they  retired  with 
a  loss  of  more  than  150  men,  and  we  had  the  mis- 
fortune, by  the  bursting  of  a  cannon  in  one  of  the 
forts,  to  have  three  killed  and  several  severely 
wounded,  and  among  the  killed  was  Sergeant- 
major  Joseph  de  Roxas." 

After  109  days  of  siege,  in  which  a  besieging 
force  of  40,000  Indians,  according  to  Segurola's 
statement,  took  part,  the  condition  of  affairs  in 
the  city  was  desperate,  but  no  word  of  despair 
appears  in  the  diary  of  the  commander.  ' '  By  the 
grace  of  God,"  he  wrote,  *'we  have  defended  our- 
selves in  spite  of  hunger,  pest,  and  the  enemies, 
even  from  those  within,  who  have  caused  not  less 


200  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

care  than  those  without."  In  want  of  other  food, 
they  had  eaten  the  horses,  mules,  and  asses,  not 
merely  the  flesh  but  the  skins  as  well,  and  the  dogs 
and  cats,  the  cat  having  a  quoted  price  of  six 
dollars.  Of  the  2000  mules  in  the  city  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  siege,  scarcely  more  than  forty  re- 
mained at  the  end  of  it.  During  these  months, 
moreover,  disease  made  rapid  strides;  and  many 
persons  in  their  incautious  search  for  food  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  to  whose  treatment 
of  them  *'we  may  not  refer  without  the  greatest 
horror,  grief,  and  compassion." 

At  the  end  of  June,  General  Flores  arrived 
with  the  troops  from  Buenos  Aires  and  brought 
the  desired  relief."  He  scattered  the  besieging 
force,  and  caused  food  to  be  introduced  into  the 
city.  Under  the  protection  of  the  military  force, 
many  of  the  inhabitants  left  their  houses  in  the 
city  and  established  themselves  temporarily  near 
the  camp  of  the  soldiers.  But  hostilities  were 
continued  at  different  points  in  the  surrounding 
country;  and  on  the  withdrawal  of  a  part  of  the 

18  ' '  The  reinforcements  sent  to  the  royal  army  from  Buenos 
Aires,  Tueiiman,  and  Cochabamba  were  for  the  most  part  regular 
troops;  the  Buenos  Aireans  were  armed  and  equipped  as  European 
soldiers;  the  Tucumanos  composed  the  cavalry,  and  were  armed 
with  butcherknives  and  lassos;  the  Cochabambinos  used  short 
clubs  loaded  with  lead,  and  which,  by  means  of  a  string  several 
yards  in  length,  they  could  fling  from  them,  and  were  deadly  weapons. 
The  mode  of  attacking  the  Indians  was  first  by  the  fire  of  mus- 
ketry, to  throw  them  into  confusion,  when,  if  the  ground  admitted, 
the  Tucuman  horsemen  rode  among  them,  dragging  down  whole 
ranks  with  their  lassos,  followed  by  the  Cochabambinos,  who 
despatched  them  with  their  clubs. ' ' — Temple,  Travels  in  Variotis 
Parts  of  Peru,  II,  175,  176. 


REVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  201 

troops  to  places  where  they  seemed  to  be  impera- 
tively needed,  the  siege  of  La  Paz  was  renewed. 
This  time  it  was  continued  from  the  beginning  of 
August  until  the  17th  of  October.  At  noon  on  this 
day  the  troops  from  Oruro  arrived  under  the  com- 
mand of  Lieutenant  Josef  Reseguin,  "and  we 
began  to  see  on  the  brow  of  the  hill  of  Puna  cer- 
tain men  who  it  was  not  doubted  were  ours,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  rest  appeared,  covering  in  a 
moment  the  top  of  the  hill.  From  this  position 
they  saluted  the  city  with  their  artillery,  filling  it 
with  the  greatest  joy  and  satisfaction  imaginable. 
The  commandant,  Don  Josef  Reseguin,  sent  to  me 
immediately  notice  of  his  arrival  with  7000  sol- 
diers and  a  large  quantity  of  provisions  which 
would  supply  the  city. 

"Thus  ended  the  second  siege  of  this  afflicted 
and  unfortunate  city,  if  it  may  not  be  considered 
the  first;  since  during  the  period  of  the  other 
relief  the  enemies  remained  always  on  the  heights 
of  the  Potopoto,  Calvario,  and  even  on  the  others 
of  the  environs,  when  the  troops  moved  their 
encampment  some  distance  away.  In  this  it  is 
seen  that  the  rebels  to  the  number  of  12,000  fight- 
ing men,  according  to  all  accounts,  not  only  pur- 
sued the  siege  with  fire  and  blood  as  before,  but 
also  turned  the  waters  against  us;  and  although 
it  had  not  the  same  outcome  as  in  the  town  of 
Sorata,  still  it  caused  considerable  destruction  in 
the  city.  Misery  made  the  same  inroads  as  the 
last  time,  and  want  compelled  the  use  of  the  same 


202  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

unfit  food ;  in  sustaining  life  there  was  no  exemp- 
tion for  the  horses,  the  mules,  the  asses,  the  cats, 
the  dogs,  and  the  most  despicable  hides,  not  only 
of  the  animals  killed  but  also  those  furinshed  by 
the  rawhide  trunks  and  the  food  pouches  of  the 
shepherds.  "^^ 

IX 

For  still  two  years  or  more  desultory  fighting 
continued  in  many  parts  of  the  country  in  which 
the  revolt  had  appeared.  Although  the  Indians 
were  defeated,  they  were  neither  crushed  nor 
placated.  From  their  victory  the  Spaniards  de- 
rived little  profit  and  less  honor.  The  Indians 
remained  hostile  and  in  a  mood  to  join  any  enemy 
of  their  hated  masters  that  might  arise.  Outraged 
by  the  barbarity  of  the  Spaniards,  they  espoused 
the  cause  of  the  Creoles  and  became  a  powerful 
factor  in  the  struggle  for  independence. 

A  recognition  of  the  disastrous  results  of 
Spain's  treatment  of  the  Indians  led  the  Span- 
iards at  last  to  make  their  exactions  less  burden- 
some. Under  the  new  order  the  Indians  might  be 
employed  in  occupations  contributing  directly  to 
the  general  well-being  of  society :  in  raising  grain 
and  cattle ;  in  building  roads,  bridges,  and  edifices 
for  public  use.  They  might  also  be  employed  in 
mining;  but  it  was  not  expected  that  they  would 
be    employed    in    occupations    that    contributed 

19  ArcMvo  Boliviano,  Paris,  1872,  I,  127,  128. 


EEVOLT  OF  TUPAC  AMARU  203 

merely  to  the  luxurious  gratification  of  the  Span- 
ish part  of  the  population.  The  line  of  distinction 
between  these  occupations  was,  however,  only 
vaguely  drawn,  and  was  only  imperfectly  observed 
in  practice.  Service  in  the  mines  was  subject  to 
restrictions  that  were  expected  to  obviate  at  least 
some  of  the  evils  that  had  previously  existed. 
Only  a  certain  number  of  laborers,  not  to  exceed 
one-seventh  of  the  inhabitants,  might  be  taken 
from  any  district,  and  these  were  retained  for  a 
period  of  six  months.  They  were  paid  at  the  rate 
of  four  reals  a  day.  The  provision  that  no  Indian 
might  be  taken  more  than  thirty  miles  to  work  in 
a  mine  tended  to  set  aside  the  practice  of  taking 
them  from  the  warm  climate  of  the  low  country 
to  the  cold  regions  of  the  mountains.  But  abuses 
were  continued  in  spite  of  the  good  intentions  of 
the  law-makers.  The  execution  of  the  laws  was  in 
the  hands  of  officers  far  removed  from  the  super- 
vision of  their  legislative  superiors.  The  great 
distance  and  the  difficulties  of  communication  still 
left  the  Indians  practically  subject  to  the  discre- 
tion of  the  American  end  of  the  administration.^* 

20  The  details  of  the  rebellion  of  Tupac  Amaru  are  presented 
in  the  three  hundred  and  sixty  pages  of  documents  contained  in 
the  first  volume  of  Odriozola's  Documentos  Mstdricos  del  Peru; 
in  the  Relacidn  historica  de  los  sucesos  de  la  rebelidn  de  Jose 
Gabriel  Tupac  Amaru  en  las  provincial  del  Peru,  el  alio  de  1780 ; 
and  in  Documentos  para  la  historia  de  la  suhlevacion  de  Jose 
Gabriel  Tupac  Amaru,  cacique  de  la  provinoia  de  Tinta  en  el 
Peru,  in  Coleccion  de  Angelis,  Tomo  V;  Lorente,  Historia  del 
Peru  bajo  los  Borbones,  Lima,  1871,  174-215;  for  the  events  in 
Cuzco,  see  "Informe  Eelacionado, "  in  Bela^ones  de  los  vireyes  y 
audiencias,  III,  307-368. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  REBELLION  OF  THE  COMUNEROS  IN 
NEW  GRANADA 

Viceroy  Florez  and  the  visitador-regente  Piiieres.  II. 
The  outbreak  in  Socorro.  III.  Organization  of  the 
Comun  under  Berbeo,  and  the  battle  of  Puente 
Real.  IV.  The  advance  on  Bogota,  and  the  flight 
of  the  regent.  V.  The  negotiations  and  the  agree- 
ment. VI.  Galan  and  the  new  revolt.  VII.  The 
Indians  of  Nemoeon  and  the  conclusion  of  the 
conflict. 


The  rebellion  of  the  comuneros  in  New  Granada, 
like  the  revolt  led  by  Tupac  Amaru,  was  a  protest 
against  abuses  by  the  government.  On  the 
10th  of  February,  1776,  Manuel  Antonio  Florez 
assumed  the  duties  of  viceroy  at  Cartagena.  His 
financial  administration  failed  to  elicit  the  ap- 
proval of  the  king,  who  sent  Juan  Francisco 
Gutierrez  de  Piiieres  to  be  the  visitador-regente 
of  the  viceroyalty.  The  visitador  held  a  commis- 
sion from  the  king,  ordering  him  to  regulate  the 
affairs  of  the  royal  treasury  in  New  Granada,  and, 
if  possible,  to  increase  the  royal  revenues.    And 


COMUNEROS  IN  NEW  GRANADA    205 

when  the  viceroy  objected  to  the  measures 
adopted,  and  appealed  to  the  king,  he  was  in- 
formed that  Piiieres  should  be  permitted  to  pro- 
ceed according  to  his  own  ideas,  particularly  with 
reference  to  the  affairs  of  the  treasury.  The 
visitador-regente,  thus  placed  beyond  the  reach 
of  viceregal  interference,  proceeded  to  impose 
burdensome  taxes.  His  sole  object  appeared  to 
be  to  augment  the  funds  that  were  destined  to  be 
sent  to  Spain,  without  observing  the  disastrous 
effect  of  his  measures  on  the  welfare  of  the  colony. 
The  viceroy  having  been  sent  to  Cartagena  to  pro- 
vide for  the  defense  of  the  coast,  Pineres  remained 
at  Bogota  the  acting  head  of  the  government. 

The  visitador  found  the  inhabitants  burdened 
with  a  long  list  of  taxes  and  monopolies.  There 
were  monopolies  of  salt,  tobacco,  spirits,  playing 
cards,  the  post,  stamped  paper,  and  a  burdensome 
array  of  taxes  and  tributes,  both  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical; yet  in  the  face  of  a  revenue  system  that 
removed  from  the  colonists  every  prospect  of  indi- 
vidual prosperity,  he  was  expected  to  increase  at 
least  some  of  these  imposts.  The  instructions 
under  which  he  acted  required  him  to  effect  a  more 
exact  and  systematic  management  of  the  royal 
revenues  known  as  alcabala  and  armada  de  barlo- 
vento.^  It  was  not  merely  the  amount  of  the  taxes, 
but  also  the  intolerable  brutality  with  which  they 

1  The  tax  called  armada  de  tarlovento  was  an  impost  designed 
to  support  the  little  squadron,  or  the  division  of  the  navy  assigned 
to  South  America. 


206  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

were  collected  that  provoked  insurrection,^  and 
this  source  of  disturbance  was  aggravated  by  the 
corruption  and  tyranny  of  those  persons  who 
received  and  administered  the  funds  collected, 
and  who  increased  their  gains  by  stealing  one- 
half  of  the  revenues  in  their  passage  from  the 
persons  taxed  to  the  treasury.  But  complaints 
and  protests  by  the  people  against  these  abuses 
were  of  no  avail;  the  regent  who  depended  solely 
on  the  king  had  more  inducements  to  increase  the 
income  of  his  master  than  to  seek  to  remove  the 
corruption  or  lessen  the  burdens  of  the  people. 
And  the  people  were  aroused  to  resistance  not  by 
a  fear  that  the  government  might  oppress  them 
sometime  in  the  future,  but  by  actual  oppression 
w^hich  curtailed  very  materially  their  means  of 
living.  It  was  the  desire  to  redress  real  griev- 
ances rather  than  a  prospect  of  independence  that 
moved  them. 

II 

The  province  of  Socorro,  the  seat  of  the  prin- 
cipal manufacturing  industries  of  New  Granada, 
felt  especially  the  burden  of  the  new  taxation,  and 
therefore,  became  the  center  of  the  revolutionary 
movement,  which  spread  rapidly  from  day  to  day, 
and  appeared  in  regions  as  widely  separated  as 

2  "  El  maltratamiento  que  los  ministros  y  gnardas  de  la  Eenta 
de  Tobacos  daban  a  los  vasallos ...  ha  sido  causa  para  que  esta 
Jurisdiccion,  la  de  San  Gil,  la  de  Velez,  y  la  de  Tunja,  segun  se 
dice,  se  hayan  alzado. "  Eeport  by  the  cabildo  of  Socorro  to  the 
viceroy,  March  7,  1781,  in  A.  M.  Galan,  Vida  de  J.  A.  Galdn  (Bibl. 
de  hist,  nadonal,  IV),  223;  see  also  ibid.,  229-231. 


COMUNEROS    IN   NEW  GRANADA         207 

Pamplona  and  the  llanos.  The  insurgents  were, 
moreover,  stimulated  by  reports  of  the  uprising 
of  Tupac  Amaru,  which  was  communicated  to  the 
Indians  of  New  Granada,  and  which  helped  to 
arouse  them  to  action.  In  the  llanos,  Javier  Men- 
doza  proclaimed  the  revolution  in  the  name  of 
the  Inca,  ordered  the  churches  closed,  and  pro- 
hibited the  Catholic  worship. 

The  idea  of  revolt  was  early  entertained  in 
Bogota.  It  found  adherents  in  Jorge  Lozano  de 
Peralta,  Juan  Bautista  Morales,  Manuel  Garcia 
Olano,  Ciriaco  de  Archila.  The  last  named 
person  was  a  lay  member  of  the  Dominican 
monastery.  Opposition  to  the  decrees  of  Pifieres 
appeared  in  October,  1780,  in  the  towns  of  Bari- 
chara,  Simacota,  and  Mogotes.  A  few  weeks  later 
a  more  strenuous  resistance  was  manifest  in 
Charala,  led  by  Pedro  Nieto.  Neither  the  audi- 
encia  nor  the  regent  possessed  either  the  physical 
or  the  moral  force  to  suppress  the  revolt  in  its 
beginnings.  The  party  of  rebellion  sought  an 
effective  ally  in  the  Indians  by  communicating  to 
the  more  intelligent  of  them  the  idea  that  through 
independence  they  might  find  a  redress  for  their 
long-standing  grievances.  Manuel  Garcia  Olano, 
the  general  director  of  the  post,  and  Francisco 
Vargas,  the  parish  priest  of  Socorro,  were  espe- 
cially influential  in  this  undertaking. 

At  Socorro,  March  16,  1781,  a  company  of 
persons,  led  by  Jose  Delgadillo,  appeared  before 
the  house  of  the  alcalde,  Jose  de  Angulo  y  Olarte, 
and  shouted  their  refusal  to  pay  the  new  imposts. 


208  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

The  alcalde  addressed  the  crowd,  and  urged  the 
necessity  of  complying  with  the  regent's  orders, 
since  they  were  the  commands  of  the  highest 
legitimate  authority  in  the  kingdom.  This  appeal 
only  called  forth  cries  of  indignation  and  violent 
threats  from  the  rioters.  In  the  midst  of  this 
uproar,  a  woman  ran  to  the  bulletin-board  near 
the  alcalde 's  house,  and  tore  down  the  edict  of  the 
visitador.  This  act  was  greeted  with  applause 
and  with  the  cry,  "Long  live  the  king  and  death 
to  bad  government."  The  frightened  alcalde  fled 
to  a  hiding  place,  while  the  crowd  surged  through 
the  streets  proclaiming  its  victory  and  vociferat- 
ing its  condemnation  of  the  regent.^ 

This  demonstration  produced  an  immediate 
result.  The  cabildo  of  Socorro  assembled  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  riot,  and  decided  to  suspend  the 
collection  of  the  new  taxes.  The  insurgents  of 
Socorro  were  temporarily  pacified,  but  there  was 
a  new  outbreak  in  San  Gil.  The  inhabitants  came 
together  in  the  plaza,  destroyed  the  regent 's  edict, 
attacked  the  guards  and  the  administrator  of 
the  monopolies,  burned  the  tobacco  in  the  store- 
houses, and  declared  that  they  would  not  pay  the 
additional  taxes  demanded.  A  similar  attack  was 
made  at  Simacota,  where  the  crowd  poured  out 

3  Briceno,  Manuel,  Los  Comuneros,  Bogota,  1880,  13 ;  Manuela 
Beltran  is  said  to  be  the  name  of  the  first  person,  in  New  Granada, 
who  thus  dared  to  tear  in  pieces  a  document  issued  by  authority 
and  posted  under  the  royal  arms  of  Spain.  Ibid,  99;  Plaza, 
Antonio  de,  Memorias  para  la  historia  de  la  Nueva  Granada, 
Bogota,  1850,  334;  Galan,  A,  M.,  Vida  de  J.  A.  Galdn  {Bibl.  de 
hist,  nacional,  IV),  223. 


COMUNEROS  IN  NEW  GRANADA    209 

the  brandy,  burned  the  tobacco  and  other  stores, 
distributed  the  money,  threw  out  the  furniture, 
and  pulled  down  the  royal  arms.  The  insurgents 
from  many  quarters  prepared  to  appear  in 
Socorro  on  the  15th  of  April  to  continue  the  work 
of  destruction.  Their  vigorous  and  unrestrained 
action  had  a  practical  effect  in  causing  the  regent 
to  issue  a  decree  relieving  the  towns  of  Tunja, 
Socorro,  Sogamoso,  and  San  Gil  of  some  of  the 
objectionable  taxes.  The  success  of  these  early 
instances  of  resistance  suggested  the  possibility 
of  acquiring  a  larger  measure  of  relief. 

At  the  end  of  March  Dionisio  Plata  received 
at  Socorro  a  document  sent  from  Bogota  by  Ciri- 
aco  de  Archila.  When  opened  in  the  presence 
of  a  company  of  the  more  influential  residents  of 
the  town,  it  proved  to  be  an  appeal  to  the  people 
in  verse.  Later  it  was  read  by  the  crier  to  four 
or  five  thousand  persons  called  together  by  the 
sound  of  the  tocsin,  and  was  received  with  shouts 
of  applause.  It  moved  the  people  to  avenge 
themselves  for  the  evils  they  had  suffered  under 
exorbitant  taxes  and  the  merciless  conduct  of 
monopolists.  The  members  of  the  crowd  were 
transformed  into  an  angry  mob.  They  assaulted 
the  offices  of  the  monopolies,  broke  open  the  doors, 
tore  down  the  royal  arms,  poured  out  the  alcoholic 
spirits,  destroyed  the  cards  and  stamped  paper, 
and  burned  the  tobacco.  The  guards,  the  admin- 
istrator, and  the  alcaldes  escaped  to  the  houses  of 
Francisco  Rosillo  and  Juan  Bernardo  Plata,  and 


210  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

then  took  refuge  in  a  church.  Destruction  of  this 
kind  was  repeated  as  the  revolt  extended  its  area, 
yet  the  seizure  of  property  was  not  robbery  for 
individual  gain,  nor  was  it  attended  by  assassina- 
tion. 

Ill 

In  April,  1781,  six  thousand  insurgents  from 
adjacent  towns  assembled  in  Socorro  for  the  pur- 
pose of  organizing  themselves  with  the  view  of 
persuading  the  government  to  abate  the  griev- 
ances of  the  people.  They  elected  Juan  Francisco 
Berbeo  to  be  their  chief,  and  Jose  Antonio 
Estevez,  Antonio  Jose  Monsalve,  and  Salvador 
Plata  to  be  associated  with  him.  These  four  per- 
sons having  taken  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  people, 
formed  a  commission  called  the  Comun,  from 
which  the  members  and  their  adherents  became 
known  as  Comuneros.  The  procurador  of  the 
commission  was  Antonio  de  Molina,  and  the  secre- 
tary was  Manuel  Jose  Ortiz.  Each  of  the  towns 
in  revolt  chose  a  captain,  and  by  popular  election 
three  or  five  persons  to  constitute  a  local  comun. 
The  serious  and  energetic  activity  of  Berbeo  in 
creating  a  military  force,  persuaded  the  audiencia 
to  move  towards  the  same  end.  That  body  sent 
one  of  its  members,  Jose  Osorio,  to  subdue  the 
rebels,  and  establish  order  in  the  insurgent  towns. 
Informed  of  this  project,  Berbeo  prepared  to  offer 
resistance.  The  force  which  he  was  able  to  put 
into  the  field  consisted  of  about  four  thousand 
men.     These  so  far  outnumbered  the  forces  of 


COMUNEROS    IN   NEW  GRANADA         211 

the  oidor  that  he  found  it  advisable  to  surrender 
to  the  insurgents.  After  this  event  Berbeo,  Mon- 
salve,  Rosillo,  and  Estevez  addressed  the  viceroy, 
affirming  that  they  had  accepted  their  positions 
as  captains  in  order  to  restrain  the  disorderly 
jDroceedings,  and  to  see  whether  it  might  be  pos- 
sible, by  prudence,  to  secure  the  "tranquility  of 
these  republics,"  without  loss  of  lives  and  prop- 
erty. At  the  same  time  they  wished  to  make  it 
clear  that  they  were  not  disposed  to  deny  the 
sovereignty  and  power  of  the  king.* 

When  the  cabildos  of  the  insurgent  towns  and 
the  leaders  of  the  revolt  asked  respectfully  that 
the  audiencia  would  moderate  the  new  imposts, 
this  tribunal  replied  only  by  an  order  requiring 
the  pueblos  to  be  subdued  by  force.  For  this  pur- 
pose Oidor  Osorio  marched  out  towards  the  north 
with  a  troop  of  fifty  armed  men,  leaving  twenty- 
five  in  Bogota.^  Captain  Barrera  was  in  immedi- 
ate command,  while  Osorio  was  commissioned  to 
treat  with  the  enemy.  At  Puente  Eeal,  near  the 
town  of  Velez,  they  met  the  vastly  superior  force 
that  had  been  gathered  from  the  towns  in  revolt. 
Although  the  rebels  had  few  fire  arms,  by  the 
advantage  of  mere  numbers  they  overwhelmed  the 
troops  sent  from  Bogota.  Osorio  had  attempted 
to  avoid  an  actual  conflict  by  offering  to  make 
concessions,  but  in  this  he  was  not  successful. 
Berrera  and  Osorio  were  captured,  and  sent  to 

4  Nota  de  los  capitanes  generates  del  Socorro  al  virey,  Socorro 
y  Mayo  7  de  1781,  printed  in  Briceno,  Los  Comuneros,  103. 

5  Vergara  y  Velasco,  Novisimo  texto  de  historia  de  Colombia, 
Bogota,  1910,  207. 


212  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

Chiquinquira.  Osorio  died  a  few  months  later. 
Francisco  Ponce,  Barrera's  aide,  escaped  dis- 
guised as  a  monk,  and  carried  the  news  of  the 
disaster  to  Bogota,  where  the  inhabitants,  in  view 
of  the  lack  of  troops  for  defense,  were  thrown 
into  a  panic.  At  this  encounter  the  insurgents 
obtained  the  fifty  muskets  that  had  belonged  to 
the  soldiers,  twenty-two  trabucos,  and  the  seven 
hundred  muskets  which  the  authorities  at  Bogota 
had  provided  for  the  expected  additions  to  their 
force.  They  took  also  twenty  thousand  cartridges 
with  balls,  and  a  large  amount  of  powder  with 
separate  balls,  together  with  pistols,  swords, 
money,  and  equippages.*' 

The  bloodless  victory  of  the  comuneros  at 
Puente  Real  was  followed  by  important  changes 
in  their  organization.  The  captains  were  organ- 
ized as  a  supreme  council  of  war.  Berbeo  became 
superintendent  and  commanding  general,  and 
Joaquin  Fernandez  Alvarez  became  secretary  of 
state.  With  their  new  organization,  the  insur- 
gents assumed  the  supreme  authority,  and  adopted 
democratic  principles  as  the  basis  of  their  state. 
They  declared  their  independence,  and  wished  to 
govern  themselves  as  a  sovereign  republic.^  Yet, 
in  spite  of  their  proposed  democracy,  they  con- 
templated offering  the  crown  to  Osorio,  but  an 
inquiry  as  to  his  sentiments  revealed  the  fact  that 
he  would  reject  it  if  offered. 

6  Cuervo,  Documentos,  TV,  8. 

7  Finestrad,  J.  de,  El  vassallo  instrmdo  {Bibl.  de  hist,  nacional), 
Bogota,  1905,  cap.  VIII. 


COMUNEROS  IN  NEW  GRANADA    213 

IV 

The  next  step  in  the  revolutionary  movement 
was  an  advance  upon  Bogota.  Information 
reached  Pineres  that  the  rebels  sought  his  head, 
and  that  to  take  it  would  be  their  first  object  on 
entering  the  city.  This  prospect  induced  him  to 
prepare  for  flight.  But  before  he  left  Bogota,  he 
convened  the  audiencia.  He  proposed  to  that  body 
that  it  should  appoint  a  commission  to  meet  the 
comuneros ;  and  that  it  should  solicit  the  interven- 
tion of  the  archbishop ;  it  should  organize  the  mili- 
tia and  publish  an  edict  reducing  the  alcabala  and 
the  armada  de  barlovento.  The  audiencia  adopted 
the  measures  proposed,  and  adjourned  at  midnight. 
Before  dawn  of  the  following  morning,  Pineres 
had  left  Bogota  for  Honda.  On  the  same  day,  the 
13th  of  May,  the  commissioners  went  out  to  meet 
the  advancing  insurgents.  From  Zipaquira  they 
sent  a  note  to  Berbeo  and  his  lieutenants,  which 
reached  them  at  Raquira.  In  this  note  the  com- 
missioners announced  their  willingness  to  hear 
them  on  subjects  which  they  thought  might  be  for 
the  good  of  the  king  and  the  people.* 

On  approaching  Zipaquira,  the  insurgents 
were  not  in  a  tractable  mood.    They  were  not  dis- 

8  This  letter  is  printed  as  No.  VI  of  the  documents  forming  the 
Appendix  of  Briceno,  Los  Comuneros,  p.  106.  No.  VII  of  these 
documents  is  a  list  of  the  captains  who  assembled  at  Zipaquira 
in  command  of  the  comuneros.  The  men  under  these  eighty-seven 
officers  numbered  about  20,000,  representing  sixty-six  pueblos 
embraced  in  territory  now  belonging  to  the  states  of  Boyac^, 
Cundinamarca,  and  Santander. 


214  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

posed  to  listen  either  to  the  commissioners  or  to 
the  archbishop.  They  made  a  riotous  attack  on 
the  house  of  the  administrator  of  monopolies,  and 
destroyed  everything  within  reach.  This  out- 
break caused  the  members  of  the  audiencia  to  see 
the  helplessness  of  their  position.  With  no  means 
of  resistance  at  hand,  they  announced  that  the 
tax  of  armada  de  barlovento  was  abolished,  and 
that  the  alcabala  was  reduced  to  two  per  cent. 
Catani,  one  of  the  members,  having  been  made 
general-in-chief  of  the  legitimate  troops,  gathered 
a  force  of  six  hundred  and  forty  men,  and  sent  to 
Honda  for  arms  that  had  been  deposited  there  for 
the  viceroy.  At  Nemocon  the  insurgents  learned 
of  the  flight  of  the  regent,  and  appointed  Jose 
Antonio  Galan  to  proceed  to  Honda  and  prevent 
him  from  going  to  the  coast. 

Near  Facatativa  Galan  and  his  twenty-five 
soldiers  encountered  the  troops  sent  out  from 
Bogota  against  him.  Having  defeated  them,  he 
gathered  reinforcements  at  Facatativa,  and  con- 
tinued his  march  towards  Honda.  He  captured 
the  guards  who  were  conducting  arms  to  the  vice- 
roy, and  occupied  Guaduas.  This  event  and  the 
threatening  attitude  of  the  increasing  rebel  force 
created  a  state  of  confusion  in  Bogota.  The  com- 
missioners and  the  archbishop  were  authorized  to 
prevent  the  insurgents  from  entering  the  capital, 
and  to  this  end  they  might  employ  any  possible 
means.^ 

9  See  the  credentials  of  the  commissioners,  No.  VIII   of  the 
documents  in  Briceno,  110. 


COMUNEROS    IN   NEW  GRANADA         215 

Knowing  that  the  greater  part  of  the  insur- 
gents were  without  arms,  Berbeo  vacilated  and 
was  undetermined  as  to  what  course  to  pursue. 
It  was  clear  that  the  government  would  make  an 
effort  to  defend  itself  and  put  do^vn  the  rebellion, 
and  Berbeo  recognized  the  inability  of  an  un- 
trained and  unarmed  crowd  to  resist  successfully 
such  a  force  as  the  government  would  ultimately 
bring  against  it.  After  considering  suggestions 
for  an  agreement  with  the  audiencia,  he  finally 
decided  to  send  one  of  his  advisers,  Juan  Bautista 
Morales,  to  England,  commissioned  to  obtain 
funds  for  the  purchase  of  arms  and  equipment. 

The  archbishop  was  alarmed  by  the  growth  of 
the  revolutionary  spirit,  and  by  the  fact  that  the 
bulk  of  the  discontented  were  not  affected  by  his 
appeals.  He  succeeded,  however,  in  taming  the 
zeal  of  Berbeo,  the  commanding  general,  and  in 
persuading  him  to  adopt  such  an  attitude  of  mind 
as  led  him  later  to  be  accused  of  treason  to  the 
cause  of  the  insurgents.  While  the  popular  move- 
ment was  gaining  ground,  the  town  of  Giron 
undertook  to  oppose  the  revolution.  It  created 
a  council  of  defense,  and  formed  a  military  com- 
pany of  two  hundred  lances.  The  aggressive  acts 
of  this  body  were  answered  by  the  revolted  towns 
sending  against  Giron  a  force  of  four  thousand 
men.  The  inhabitants  fled,  but  later  many  of 
them  were  induced  to  return  and  swear  allegiance 
to  the  supreme  council  of  war  of  Socorro.  The 
rebels  were  intolerant  of  the  inactive  or  indiffer- 


216  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

ent  course  pursued  by  some  of  the  towns,  and 
required  them  either  to  declare  positively  in  favor 
of  the  insurrection  or  accept  the  position  of 
enemies. 

V 

In  the  last  days  of  May,  1781,  Ambrosio  Pisco, 
with  a  number  of  Indians,  joined  the  ranks  of  the 
insurgents.  Pisco  was  a  descendant  of  the  Zipas. 
Along  the  way  from  Giiepsa  to  Nemocon,  and  on  his 
arrival,  he  was  greeted  with  enthusiasm,  and  the 
principal  Indians  from  many  quarters  appeared 
to  pay  him  homage.  In  the  presence  of  a  large 
assembly  of  Indians,  he  was  proclaimed  Lord  of 
Chia  and  Prince  of  Bogota.  These  survivals  of 
ancient  ceremonies  and  the  empty  honors  con- 
ferred by  them  apparently  satisfied  the  Zipa.  He 
placed  himself  under  the  command  of  Berbeo ;  for 
after  the  oppression  his  race  had  endured  for 
many  generations,  he  knew  only  how  to  obey.  If 
he  had  possessed  the  power  to  take  the  initiative 
in  action,  and  the  insurgents  had  had  more 
respect  for  the  Indians,  the  ancient  rule  of  the 
Zipas  might  have  been  revived,  and  have  become 
at  least  a  temporary  substitute  for  the  rule  of 
the  king. 

While  encamped  near  Zipaquira,  Berbeo  re- 
quested the  authorities  of  Bogota  to  appoint  com- 
missioners to  discuss  with  insurgent  commis- 
sioners certain  terms  on  which  the  two  parties 
might  agree.    The  demands  of  the  insurgent  were 


COMUNEEOS    IN   NEW  GRANADA        217 

presented  in  an  extensive  document  providing  for 
the  abolition  of  monopolies,  and  the  abolition  or 
reduction  of  a  large  number  of  specified  taxes.^° 

The  rebellion  of  the  comuneros  aroused  the 
Indians  to  revolt.  At  Silos,  in  the  district  of 
Pamplona,  the  Indians  came  together  in  consid- 
erable numbers  and  rejected  the  authority  of  the 
king  of  Spain.  "They  solemnly  published  the 
proclamation  of  Tupac  Amaru,  and  swore  obedi- 
ence to  him  as  Emperor  of  America.'"^ 

In  the  course  of  the  discussion  on  the  proposed 
terms  of  agreement,  the  mass  of  the  insurgents 
conceived  the  idea  that  their  officers,  by  too  great 
concessions,  were  deceiving  them.  They  spread 
the  alarm,  and  demanded  that  the  war  should  be 
continued.  They  demanded,  moreover,  that  they 
should  be  led  to  Bogota.  Aroused  by  the  attitude 
of  the  crowd,  the  archbishop  urged  the  immediate 
approval  of  the  capitulaciones  by  the  commis- 
sioners; and  when  this  was  accomplished,  the 
document  was  sent  to  the  audiencia.  This  body 
confirmed  the  commissioners'  approval,  thus 
allaying  the  popular  agitation. 

10  This  document,  Texto  de  las  capitulaciones  redactadas  por 
los  comuneros  para  presentarlas  al  comandante  general,  is  printed 
in  Briceno,  Los  Comuneros,  121-137.  It  is  dated  June  4,  1781,  and 
is  signed  by  Juan  Francisco  Berbeo.  These  capitulaciones  were 
approved  by  the  audiencia  June  7,  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  night; 
they  were  confirmed  by  oath  on  the  plain  of  Mortino  before  2000 
insurgents,  the  archbishop  sanctifying  the  agreement  by  a  religious 
service.  The  multitude  dissolved  the  same  day.  Sixty  copies  of 
the  agreement  were  made  for  the  sixty  cabildos  that  had  supported 
the  movement.  On  the  15th  it  was  published  at  Bogota.  Vergara 
y  Velasco,  Texto,  210. 

11  Briceno,  Los  Comuneros,  64,  139. 


218  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

Groot  affirms  that  through  the  influence  of  the 
archbishop  the  capitulaciones,  or  the  terms  of 
agreement,  were  approved  without  modifications, 
"but  at  the  same  meeting  the  members  of  the  com- 
mission signed  a  secret  protest  declaring  that, 
having  given  their  approval,  it  was  done  under 
the  force  of  circumstances  in  order  to  avoid 
greater  evils,  and  that  consequently  they  held  the 
agreements  void  as  obtained  by  force  when  they 
had  no  force  with  which  to  sustain  the  dignity  of 
the  government."^-  Yet  in  the  face  of  this  atti- 
tude, when  the  agreement  had  been  received  at 
Zapaquira,  and  had  been  approved  and  solemnly 
sworn  to,  the  archbishop  celebrated  mass  with  the 
Te  Deum.  This  solemn  act  of  hypocrisy  was  per- 
formed when  the  commissioners  had  already 
secretly  declared  that  they  would  not  for  them- 
selves regard  the  agreement  binding.  The  comu- 
neros,  having  faith  in  the  oath  of  the  coimnis- 
sioners,  disbanded  their  forces,  and  caused  them 
to  return  to  their  accustomed  places. 

The  purpose  of  the  audiencia  in  making  the 
concessions  contained  in  this  agreement,  as  set 
forth  in  its  report  to  the  king,  was  to  maintain  the 
sovereignty  of  the  crown  in  these  dominions  (at 
whatever  cost)  which  otherwise  could  not  have 
been  accomplished,  except  by  means  of  a  difficult 
and  bloody  conquest.^^ 

12  Eistoria  de  Nueva  Granada,  II,  191. 

13  Informe  de  la  real  audiencia  de  Lima  a  su  Majestad,  Lima, 
December  22,  1780;  Carta  del  Arzobispo  al  Oidor  Osorio,  Zipaquira, 
June  11,  1781. 


COMUNEROS    IN   NEW  GRANADA        219 

The  insurgents  fancied  they  had  won  an  im- 
portant victory.  They  were,  moreover,  lured  into 
a  fatal  sense  of  security  by  oaths  and  the  elaborate 
religious  ceremonies  by  which  the  agreement  was 
solemnized.  The  revolutionary  forces  returned  to 
their  several  towns,  taking  with  them  copies  of  the 
document  which  they  regarded  as  the  charter  of 
their  liberty.  Berbeo  went  to  Bogota  to  receive 
his  appointment  as  corregidor  and  chief  justice 
of  Socorro.  This  appointment  was  later  inter- 
preted to  be  the  price  of  his  advocacy  of  the 
agreement.  ^^  ^i,niw\y^  nj  j^//i^^ 

VI 

The  principal  insurgent  force  had  been  out- 
witted and  traitorously  deceived,  and  had  left  the 
field.  Galan,  however,  held  his  small  body  of 
soldiers  intact.  At  Guaduas  he  learned  that  the 
supporters  of  the  rebellion  in  Honda  had  been 
defeated.  He,  therefore,  advanced  to  that  town, 
where  he  discovered  that  the  victorious  forces, 
fearing  an  unfavorable  result  of  the  impending 
conflict,  had  fled  to  Nare.  Galan 's  march  towards 
Honda  excited  the  inhabitants  of  towns  north  of 
Bogota  to  take  up  the  cause  of  the  revolution. 
La  Mesa,  Tocaima,  Ibague,  Cayaima,  Purificacion, 
and  Neiva  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  in  June. 
In  Neiva  the  leaders  assembled  in  the  plaza  on 
the  19th  of  that  month,  repudiated  the  authority 
of  the  governor,  broke  down  the  doors  at  the  office 
of  the  monopolies,  and  in  general,  carried  out  the 


220  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

programme  that  had  been  followed  elsewhere, 
including  the  destruction  of  the  arms  of  Spain. 
Hearing  the  uproar  in  the  plaza,  the  governor, 
Policarpo  Fernandez,  rushed  into  the  presence  of 
the  rebels;  and  when  he  saw  that  his  commands 
were  not  obeyed,  he  drew  his  sword  in  order  to 
enforce  obedience.  At  this  point,  Toribio  Zapata, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion  of  Neiva, 
attacked  him  and  killed  him  with  a  spear.  The 
alcalde,  who  had  accompanied  Fernandez,  entered 
the  fight  and  killed  Zapata;  and  in  the  confusion 
of  the  conflict  the  alcalde  escaped.^* 

The  purpose  of  the  capitulaciones  having  been 
attained  in  the  disbanding  of  the  insurgent  force 
under  Berbeo,  the  next  step  was  to  quell  the  revolt 
in  the  north,  and  to  obtain  from  the  people  decla- 
rations of  fidelity  to  the  king  and  a  repudiation 
of  the  capitulaciones.  By  the  participation  of  the 
clergy,  other-worldly  influences  lent  their  per- 
suasive force  to  accomplish  this  result.  The  arch- 
bishop decided  to  make  a  pastoral  visit  to  the 
northern  towns;  and  he  summoned  to  his  assist- 
ance the  Capuchin  missionaries  Joaquin  de  Fine- 
strad,  Felix  Goyanes,  and  Miguel  de  Villajoyosa. 
The  incentive  urged  by  the  missionaries  for  laying 
aside  hostility  to  legitimate  authority  was  not  the 
common  good  of  the  community  but  the  pains  of 
eternal  damnation. 

The  agreement  between  Berbeo  and  the  audi- 
encia  settled  nothing.    Both  the  government  and 

1*  Briceno,  Los  Comuneros,  70. 


COMUNEROS    IN   NEW  GRANADA        221 

the  people  were  dissatisfied.  The  govern.ment  had 
acted  on  the  policy  of  making  concessions  in  days 
of  trouble,  and  of  withdrawing  them  in  the  days 
of  peace.  The  dissatisfaction  of  the  people  mani- 
fested itself  in  frequent  outbreaks ;  and  the  spirit 
of  the  government,  now  that  the  great  body  of  the 
insurgents  had  been  dispersed,  was  shown  in  ener- 
getic measures  of  punishment.  Large  numbers  of 
prisoners  were  sent  to  the  fortress  of  Cartagena, 
and  among  these  there  were  many  persons  who 
were  conspicuous  and  known  to  be  popular  in 
their  communities;  and  because  they  were  popu- 
lar and  conspicuous  their  influence  was  feared. 
Therefore,  under  this  suspicion,  they  were  seized 
and  conducted  to  prison  secretly. 

The  arrival  of  five  hundred  veteran  soldiers  at 
Bogota  from  Cartagena,  on  the  15th  of  August, 
1781,  gave  the  government  confidence  in  its  ability 
to  carr}''  out  its  policy;  and  the  desire  to  retreat 
from  the  position  taken  in  the  articles  of  agree- 
ment became  more  pronounced  when  it  was  known 
that  viceroy  Florez  was  disposed  to  repudiate  that 
document.  The  viceroy's  ground  for  nullifying 
it  was  that  the  acceptance  of  its  terms  was  secured 
by  force. 

VII 

In  AugTist  the  Indians  of  Nemocon  came  into 
conflict  with  the  government  about  the  salinas. 
These  salt  works  formerly  belonged  to  the  Indians, 
but  they  had  been  taken  by  the  audiencia  and  held 


222  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

as  property  of  the  crown.  The  effort  of  the  In- 
dians to  regain  them  was  supported  by  Ambrosio 
Pisco.  The  Indians  attacked  the  house  of  the 
administrator,  determined  to  kill  him.  Informa- 
tion of  this  event  having  reached  Zipaquira,  troops 
were  sent  to  Nemocon,  where  they  arrived  on  the 
1st  of  September.  In  the  clash  which  ensued  the 
Indians  were  victorious,  but  five  of  their  number 
were  killed,  and  seven  of  them  were  wounded. ^^ 

The  Indians,  persuaded  that  they  could  not 
withstand  the  trained  troops,  fled  to  the  moun- 
tains. The  commander  of  the  legitimate  forces 
ordered  the  heads  of  the  Indians  who  had  been 
killed  to  be  cut  oif  and  placed  on  pikes,  one  in 
each  of  the  five  towns  of  San  Diego,  San  Victorino, 
Las  Cruces,  Egypto,  and  Boqueron.  This  act  sug- 
gested to  the  comuneros  what  would  probably  be 
their  fate,  and  persuaded  them  to  assemble  at 
Socorro,  and  prepare  for  a  new  insurrection. 
Jose  Antonio  Galan  became  the  commanding  gen- 
eral. A  number  of  towns,  Malaga,  Mogotes, 
Charala,  La  Concepcion,  Santana,  and  others 
joined  in  a  new  revolt;  but  it  was  not  possible  to 
reawaken  the  enthusiasm  of  the  people.  There 
was,  moreover,  no  leader  who  inspired  confidence ; 
yet  the  audiencia,  fearing  that  Galan  might  pos- 
sibly prove  a  successful  commander,  ordered  his 
arrest  and  imprisonment." 

15  An  account  of  this  conflict  is  given  in  a  letter  written  by 
Jose  Bernet  to  Viceroy  Florez,  September  9,  1781,  printed  as 
No.  XXI  of  the  documents  in  Briceno,  Los  Comuneros,  151-153. 

16  For  this  order,  see  Briceno,  Los  Comuneros,  162-167. 


COMUNEROS  IN  NEW  GRANADA    223 

When  the  insurgents  at  Mogotes  learned  that 
the  government  had  decided  to  imprison  Galan, 
their  revolutionary  zeal  abated.  The  majority  of 
them  abandoned  him.  Attended  by  only  a  few 
followers,  he  fled  to  a  place  called  Chagonuete, 
where  he  was  arrested.^'  Galan  was  born  at 
Charala,  and  at  the  time  of  his  arrest  he  was 
thirty-two  years  of  age.  On  the  basis  of  charges 
that  appear  not  to  have  been  proved  he  was  sen- 
tenced, January  30,  1782,  to  be  hanged ;  and,  after 
the  execution,  his  body  was  quartered  and  burned. 
Juan  Manuel  Jose  Ortiz,  Lorenzo  Alcantuz,  and 
Isidro  Molina  met  a  similar  fate.^® 

In  pronouncing  sentences  at  this  time  the 
audiencia  was  apparently  moved  by  a  desire  for 
vengeance  rather  than  by  a  wish  to  execute  jus- 
tice. Besides  those  who  suffered  the  death 
penalty,  a  large  number  of  other  persons  received 
milder  forms  of  punishment.  The  government 
rather  than  the  rebels  displayed  the  barbarity  of 
a  tribunal  of  terrorists.  Galan 's  head  was  sent 
to  Guaduas,  where  it  was  placed  on  a  pike  at  the 
entrance  of  the  town,  while  the  heads  of  Ortiz, 
Alcantuz,  and  Molina  were  exposed  in  a  similar 
manner  respectively  at  Socorro,  San  Gil,  and 
Bogota.    The  houses  of  these  four  victims  were 

17  For  an  account  of  Galan 's  arrest,  see  Plata's  report  in  the 
documents  In  Briceno,  Los  Comuneros,  165-167. 

18  The  sentence  of  death  on  Galan,  Ortiz,  Molina,  and  Alcantuz 
is  No.  XXVI  of  the  documents  in  Briceno,  175-181;  see  charges 
against  Jose  Antonio  Galan  in  Galan 's  Vida  de  J.  A.  Galan, 
240-242,     The  sentence  is  printed  on  pp.  314  and  315. 


224  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

destroyed,  their  descendants  were  declared  in- 
famous, and  their  property  was  confiscated.  By 
its  summary  judgments  and  the  severity  of  the 
penalties  imposed,  the  audiencia  introduced  a 
reign  of  terror  throughout  the  kingdom.  Com- 
panions of  Galan  were  sent  to  the  presidios  of 
Africa.  Ambrosio  Pisco  was  condemned  to  death, 
for  setting  himself  up  as  Prince  of  Bogota  in 
place  of  Charles  III.  But  his  sentence  was  subse- 
quently modified,  and,  with  his  wife  and  nephew, 
he  was  sent  for  fourteen  years  to  the  fortress  of 
Cartagena. 

After  the  execution,  imprisonment,  or  expul- 
sion of  the  leaders  of  the  revolt,  and  the  return 
of  Piiieres,  the  regent,  to  Bogota,  the  audiencia 
publicly  annulled,  on  the  18th  of  March,  1782,  the 
capitulaciones,  or  articles  of  agreement,  made 
with  the  insurgents  through  Berbeo ;  and  all  acts 
based  on  that  agreement.  A  little  later,  April  1, 
of  the  same  year,  it  deprived  Berbeo  of  his  title 
and  functions  as  corregidor. 

After  a  troubled  reign  of  six  years  filled  with 
misfortune,  due  chiefly  to  the  unwisdom  of  the 
visitador  Pineres,  Florez  petitioned  the  king  to  be 
relieved  of  his  viceregal  oflSce.  His  petition  was 
granted,  and  Juan  de  Torrezal  Diaz  Pimienta,  the 
governor  of  Cartagena,  became  his  successor,  and 
proceeded  to  Bogota  by  way  of  the  Magdalena 
river.  Eeports  of  his  proposed  policy  of  con- 
ciliation had  preceded  him,  and  his  arrival  was 
expected  with  satisfaction ;  but  all  hopeful  antici- 


COMUNEPtOS    IN    NEW   GKANADA         225 

pations  were  set  aside  by  his  death  four  days 
after  he  reached  the  capital.  In  accordance  with 
the  sealed  orders  opened  by  the  audiencia,  after 
the  death  of  Pimienta,  Archbishop  Caballero  y 
Gongora  assumed  the  duties  of  the  viceregal 
office,  and  thus  to  his  ecclesiastical  functions,  there 
were  added  those  of  the  political  chief  of  the  vice- 
royalty.  The  archbishop  was  born  in  Andalucia; 
was  appointed  bishop  of  Chiapa  in  1775 ;  and  was 
promoted  the  same  year  to  be  bishop  of  Yucatan. 
In  March,  1779,  he  entered  upon  the  office  of  arch- 
bishop of  Bogota. 

The  promotion  of  the  archbishop  to  the  office 
of  viceroy  was  in  recognition  of  the  service  he  had 
rendered  in  favor  of  peace.  The  general  amnesty 
granted  by  the  king  and  applied  by  the  archbishop- 
viceroy  included  Ambrosio  Pisco  and  his  family, 
who  returned  to  Chia.  By  the  barbarous  punish- 
ment of  Galan  and  his  immediate  followers,  and 
by  the  subsequent  acts  of  pardon,  the  spirit  of 
revolt,  it  was  assumed,  had  been  subdued ;  yet  the 
revolutionary  flame  had  not  been  quenched,  but 
only  smothered."  The  revolution  of  1810  com- 
pleted the  work,  at  once  destructive  and  creative, 
begun  by  the  comuneros  thirty  years  earlier. 

Juan  Bautista  Morales,  as  already  indicated, 
had  been  sent  to  England  to  obtain  funds  for 
carrying  on  the  revolution.     In  May,  1784,  Luis 

19  Edicto  promulgando  el  indulto,  No.  XXX  of  the  documents 
in  Briceno,  189-205. 


226  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

Vidalle  arived  in  London  to  assist  in  the  under- 
taking, and  on  the  12th  of  May  he  presented  a 
statement  to  the  British  government,  in  which  he 
set  forth  the  state  of  affairs  in  New  Granada. 
The  revolt  of  the  comuneros  had  been  suppressed, 
and  his  purpose  was  to  obtain  assistance  in  an 
attempt  to  emancipate  themselves  from  the  crown 
of  Spain;  as  stated  by  Vidalle,  "the  inhabitants 
of  these  provinces  are  looking  forward  with 
anxiety  to  their  separation  from  Spain. '"°  The 
papers  presented  offered  numerous  inducements 
designed  to  persuade  the  British  to  furnish  the 
required  assistance.  It  was  aflfirmed  that  the 
people  would  declare  themselves  British  subjects ; 
and  it  was  announced  at  the  same  time  that  an 
intimate  connection  existed  between  the  move- 
ment of  Tupac  Amaru  and  the  uprising  of  the 
comuneros.  In  these  documents  it  was,  moreover, 
declared  that  the  purpose  of  the  insurrection  of 
1781  was  to  secure  the  complete  indei3endence  of 
the  American  colonies. 

The  plans  of  the  commissioners  were  com- 
municated to  the  Spanish  minister  in  London, 
together  with  copies  of  the  propositions  that 
were  to  be  presented  to  the  British  government. 
Vidalle  was  arrested  in  France  and  imprisoned  in 
Cadiz.     Morales  was  also  imprisoned  and  with 

20  Inf  orme  del  comisionado  don  Luis  Vidalle  al  gobierno  ingles, 
No.  XXXVI  of  the  documents  in  Brieeno,  235 ;  Eobertson,  William 
Spence,  Francisco  de  Miranda  and  the  revolutionizing  of  Spanish 
America,  in  Ajimuil  Beport  of  Am.  Sist.  Assn.,  1907,  I,  208. 


COMUNEROS    IN   NEW   GRANADA         227 

these  events  the  comuneros'  prospects  of  Euro- 
pean assistance  and  of  independence  vanished 
for  the  moment,  but  the  hope  of  emancipation 
remained. ^^ 

21  Some  of  the  more  accessible  writings  dealing  with  the  rebel- 
lion of  the  Comuneros  are  the  following:  Brieeno,  Manuel,  Los 
Comuneros,  Bogota,  1880;  Finestrad,  Joaquin  de,  El  vasallo  in- 
struido  (Bibl.  de  Hist,  ruicional,  IV),  1-204;  Galan,  A.  M.,  JosS 
Antonio  Galdn  {Bibl.  de  hist,  nacianal,  IV),  205-410;  Eestrepo, 
Hist,  de  la  revolucion  de  la  republica  de  Colombia,  Besanzon,  1858, 
I,  13-30;  Belacion  verdadera  de  los  hechos  y  pasages  oourridos 
en  la  sublevadon  de  los  pueblos,  ciudades  y  villas  que  did  prindpio 
en  la  del  Socorro  y  San  Gil,  y  extensiva  a  todos  los  del  reyno,  Santa 
Fe,  1781;  Orjuela,  Luis,  Minuta  historica  Zapaquireiia  (Bibl.  de 
hist.  7iacio7ial,  IV),  329-362. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

the  conspiracy  of  gramuset  and 
berney;. 

I.  The  revolt  under  Amat,  governor  and  captain-general 
of  Chile.  II.  The  conspiracy  of  Gramuset  and 
Berney.  III.  The  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  the 
conspirators. 


I; 

The  breach  between  the  governors  and  the  gov- 
erned was  often  widened  by  the  arrogant  bearing 
of  some  of  the  higher  officials  towards  the  colo- 
nists. This  was  illustrated  by  the  conduct  of 
Amat  y  Junient,  the  captain-general  of  Chile  (De- 
cember 29,  1755-September  26,  1761).  Under 
Amat  and  his  successor,  Guill  y  Gonzaga  (1761- 
1767),  the  Indians  on  the  southern  frontier  contin- 
ued their  ancient  resistance  to  Spanish  encroach- 
ments, and  the  frequent  parlamentos,  instituted 
by  the  Spaniards,  generally  failed  to  set  aside  the 
hostilities  that  existed  between  the  settlers  and 
the  Indians.  Francisco  Javier  Morales  and  his 
interim  predecessor  (1768-1773)  recognized  that 
the  ports  of  the  Pacific  were  almost  entirely  de- 
fenseless. At  the  same  time  it  was  seen  that 
Spain  was  not  in  a  position  to  furnish  a  force 


GRAMUSET-BERNEY  CONSPIRACY        229 

adequate  for  their  defense;  nor  was  the  govern- 
ment in  Spain  able  to  control  the  measures  under- 
taken by  Chile  and  Peru  in  cooperation;  and  the 
inability  of  this  government  to  manage  effectively 
the  affairs  of  the  colonies  became,  with  the  pass- 
age of  time,  more  and  more  evident;  yet  in  spite 
of  this  fact,  the  king  demanded  reforms  in  the 
revenue  systems  designed  to  increase  the  income 
of  the  royal  treasury,  and  deplete  the  resources 
of  the  colonies.  The  demands  made  in  Chile  for 
the  benefit  of  the  royal  treasury,  were  not  greatly 
unlike  the  contemporary  requirements  in  New 
Granada,  which  had  provoked  the  revolt  of  the 
comuneros.  During  the  administration  of  Augus- 
tin  de  Jauregui  (1773-1780),  the  increase  of  the 
alcabala  and  other  taxes  in  Chile  moved  the 
colonists  to  assume  an  attitude  of  decided  hos- 
tility towards  the  officers  of  the  government. 

The  reforms  of  Charles  III  doubtless  aimed  at 
an  improvement  of  the  colonial  administration, 
but,  in  unsettling  social  conditions,  they  weakened 
the  influence  of  preexisting  traditions  as  an 
element  of  control,  and  thus  left  the  inhabitants 
freer  than  they  were  before  to  question  the 
advisability  of  new  legislation,  and  to  propose 
measures  inconsistent  with  Spain's  governmental 
policy.  The  alcabala  had  long  been  felt  to  be  an 
oppressive  tax,  but  it  had  been  endured,  and  even 
modifications  of  the  rate  had  not  greatly  disturbed 
the  order  of  things.  The  tax  on  certain  shops, 
particularly  those  for  the  sale  of  groceries  and 
alcoholic  beverages,  had  been  reduced,  but  under 


230  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

Jauregui  it  was  proposed  to  reestablish  the  old 
rate,  and  to  increase  the  alcabala.  These  changes, 
the  imposition  of  new  taxes,  and  an  increase  in 
the  valuation  of  articles  subject  to  the  alcabala, 
provoked  a  revolt  against  the  king's  subordinates 
in  Chile,  by  whom  the  obnoxious  changes  had  been 
made. 

On  the  sudden  death  of  Silvestre  Garcia, 
President  Jauregui  appointed  Gonzalez  Blanco 
to  be  Garcia 's  interim  successor  as  administrator 
of  accounts.  Blanco  was  especially  moved  by  the 
desire  to  increase  the  royal  revenues,  and  he 
undertook  to  reform  the  alcabala,  as  well  as  the 
fiscal  regulations  respecting  the  pulperias,  or 
shops  for  selling  groceries  and  alcoholic  beverages, 
so  that  they  might  contribute  to  that  end.  When 
the  people  learned  of  these  changes,  Blanco  be- 
came the  special  object  of  popular  indignation. 
Numerous  pasquinades  appeared  in  Santiago,  and 
under  their  influence  the  popular  agitation  was 
intensified.  The  fact  that  Blanco's  predecessor 
was  the  author  of  many  of  the  obnoxious  changes 
was  not  remembered  by  the  people.  In  July,  1776, 
they  assembled  in  riotous  disorder  in  the  plaza  of 
Santiago.  The  governor,  apparently  unable  to 
restore  tranquility,  acceded  to  the  demand  for  a 
general  assembly  to  consider  means  for  quieting 
the  revolt.  This  assembly  was  an  open  meeting 
of  the  cabildo  of  Santiago,  and  was  limited  to  one 
hundred  members  chosen  by  the  cabildo  from  the 
inhabitants  of  the  city.  It  selected  four  especially 
prominent  men  of  the  colony  as  an  executive  com- 


GKAMUSET-BERNEY  CONSPIRACY        231 

mittee.  These  were  Bacilio  de  Rojas,  Antonio 
Bascunan,  Antonio  Lastra,  and  Lorenzo  Gutierrez. 
The  governor  revoked  provisionally  the  changes 
in  taxation  that  had  been  introduced.  He  also 
gave  assurance  that  justice  would  be  administered. 
He  sent  (March  31,  1777)  the  provisional  suspen- 
sion of  the  changes  in  taxation  to  the  king  for  his 
consideration  and  final  decision.  Gonzalez  Blanco, 
in  consideration  of  his  zeal  in  seeking  to  procure 
funds  for  the  king,  was  appointed  royal  treasurer 
at  Potosi. 

The  popular  agitation  was,  however,  continued, 
and  to  this  unrest  was  added  dissatisfaction  of  the 
regular  clergy.  The  rules  of  the  orders  were 
relaxed.  The  monks  lived  without  the  monas- 
teries, and  disregarded  the  obligations  of  their 
profession.  The  king  and  his  appointed  inspectors 
appeared  to  be  unable  to  set  aside  the  scandals. 
The  revolutionary  movement  in  Chile  was  a  local 
manifestation  of  the  contemporary  revolt  against 
the  government,  that  appeared  with  more  or  less 
force  in  practically  all  of  the  colonies.  In  Peru 
and  New  Granada  it  resulted  in  Civil  War,  but  in 
certain  other  instances,  owing  to  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances of  the  communities,  it  did  not  advance 
beyond  the  status  of  a  conspiracy  or  a  local  rebel- 
lion. But  everywhere  it  indicated  the  failure  of 
the  government  in  Spain  to  grow  sufficiently  in 
wisdom  and  power  to  enable  it  to  accomplish  suc- 
cessfully the  increased  task  imposed  upon  it  by 
the  changing  needs  of  the  colonial  administration. 


232  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

II 

The  full  extent  of  the  spirit  of  revolt  was  not 
made  manifest  by  the  movements  that  culminated 
in  active  and  open  hostilities,  and  became  known 
to  all  the  world.  Besides  these  there  were  secret 
conspiracies.  Some  of  these  were  afterwards 
brought  to  light,  while  there  were  doubtless  others 
that  were  never  revealed.  An  instance,  or  a  type, 
of  the  secret  conspiracy  was  that  formed  by  two 
Frenchmen,  Antonio  Gramuset  and  Antonio  Ber- 
ney.  Gramuset  had  lived  many  years  in  Chile ;  he 
had  been  married  there,  had  tried  many  projects 
and  had  failed  in  most  of  them.  In  1769,  he  was 
included  under  the  royal  order  for  the  expulsion 
of  foreigners.  The  execution  of  this  order  was 
stayed  when  he  joined  a  company  of  foreigners 
to  fight  against  the  Araucanians.  The  king  dis- 
approved of  this  concession;  nevertheless,  the 
foreigners  remained  in  the  country.  After  sev- 
eral years  of  unsuccessful  mining  and  agriculture, 
Gramuset  was  occupying,  in  1776,  a  small  country 
house  near  Santiago,  and  was  chiefly  concerned 
with  mechanical  inventions. 

Berney  was  a  teacher  of  languages  and  mathe- 
matics. He  had  come  from  Buenos  Aires  to  Chile, 
and  had  found  protection  and  occupation  as  an 
instructor  in  French  in  a  Chilean  family,  and  in 
Latin  in  the  Colegio  Carolino.  He  was  a  guileless, 
visionary,  and  deluded  person.  His  mind  was 
filled  with  all  sorts  of  abstract  doctrines,  but  he 


GRAMUSET-BERNEY  CONSPIRACY        233 

had  very  little  knowledge  of  the  real,  practical 
world.  Gramuset  planned  to  become  rich;  Berney, 
to  make  law  that  would  shape  the  fortunes  of  a 
state. 

Berney  visited  Gramuset,  and  their  conversa- 
tion turned  to  the  popular  discontent,  and  to  the 
absurd  tyranny  of  the  colonial  regime.  They 
reached  the  conclusion  that  the  country  should  be 
independent.  By  1780  the  noise  of  the  tax  revolt 
had  ceased,  but  dissatisfaction  and  discontent  re- 
mained. According  to  Gramuset,  the  achievement 
of  independence  would  be  the  realization  of  a 
general  earnest  desire,  Gramuset  examined  the 
project  of  a  revolution  calmly  and  coolly  as 
another  speculative  undertaking.  Berney,  having 
been  unjustly  dismissed  from  the  Colegio  Caro- 
lino,  turned  against  the  existing  order  with  bitter 
resentment.  The  success  already  attained  by  the 
English  colonies,  whose  grievance  was  unjust 
taxation,  supported  the  thought  that  the  same 
degree  of  success  might  be  achieved  in  Chile, 
where  the  grievance  was  also  burdensome  taxes. 

The  confidence  of  Gramuset  was  not  fully 
entertained  by  Berney,  who,  as  a  man  of  books, 
was  in  his  proper  element  when  solving  mathe- 
matical problems  rather  than  when  dealing  with 
practical  political  problems.  But  Berney 's  doubts 
and  vacillation  disappeared  after  his  conversa- 
tion with  Jose  Antonio  Rojas,  who  appeared  as 
an  ally  in  the  conspiracy.  Rojas  was  a  man  of 
education  and  standing  in  the  colonial  community. 


234  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

He  was  born  in  Santiago  and  was  educated  at  the 
Jesuit  College  and  at  the  University  of  San 
Felipe.  He  had  served  as  an  officer  in  the  garrison 
of  a  militia  post  on  the  frontier;  as  adjutant  of 
Viceroy  Amat,  after  that  officer  had  been  pro- 
moted to  the  position  of  viceroy  of  Peru;  and  as 
corregidor  of  Lampa.  He  had  been  in  Madrid  six 
years,  soliciting  from  the  government  the  adjust- 
ment of  certain  private  affairs ;  and  the  knowledge 
which  he  gained  there  of  the  conduct  of  the  public 
administration,  its  intrigues,  its  prejudices,  and 
its  ignorance,  made  him  a  determined  opponent 
of  the  colonial  relation  of  Chile  to  Spain.  He 
returned  to  America  in  1777  with  his  collection  of 
books.  He  purchased  a  seat  in  the  cabildo  of 
Santiago,  but  he  did  not  attend  the  meetings; 
and  a  little  later  withdrew  to  his  estate  of  Pol- 
paico.  In  his  retirement  he  received  Berney,  and 
discussed  with  him  the  proposed  republican  con- 
stitution for  Chile. 

Rojas'  opinions,  his  mental  attitude  towards 
the  social  organization,  underwent  a  very  great 
change  during  his  residence  in  Europe.  In  France 
he  acquired  an  extensive  knowledge  of  the  cur- 
rent philosophy  of  the  time.  In  Amunategui's 
words,  "he  left  Aanerica  a  loyal  vassal  and  re- 
turned a  rebellious  subject."^  In  this  state  of 
mind  he  entered  into  communication  with  Berney, 
and  announced  to  him  that  there  were  two  other 
allies  who  were  important  because  of  their  social 

1  Los  Precursores  de  la  independencia  de  Chile,  III,  201. 


GRAMUSET-BERNEY  CONSPIRACY        235 

standing.  These  were  Manuel  Jose  Orejuela,  who 
had  been  commissioned  to  go  with  an  expedition 
to  discover  the  city  of  Caesares.  The  other  was 
Francisco  de  Borja  Araos,  a  captain  of  artillery 
at  Valparaiso. 

Gramuset  then  undertook  the  formation  of  a 
programme  of  events  by  which  the  proposed 
reform  should  be  introduced,  and  Berney  pro- 
ceeded to  frame  a  constitution.  He  thought  that 
the  proclamation  of  the  reform  should  embody 
the  constitution  of  the  new  state,  and  he  was 
persuaded  that  no  other  means  than  the  reading 
of  the  constitution  would  be  required  to  induce 
the  people  to  adopt  it  and  approve  the  change. 
Clearly  much  depended  then  on  this  document, 
and  while  writing  it  Berney  naturally  wished  to 
be  free  from  the  confusion  and  distractions  of  the 
city.  He,  therefore,  withdrew  to  Polpaico,  Rojas' 
estate,  and  there  began  and  completed  his  task 
of  framing  the  constitution. 

The  first  part  of  the  document  that  was  ex- 
pected to  convince  and  move  a  people,  very  few 
of  whom  were  able  to  read,  was  an  argument  in 
justification  of  a  republic,  presenting  its  advan- 
tage over  monarchy,  and  illustrated  by  facts 
drawn  with  much  learning^from  sacred  and  pro- 
fane history. 

The  second  part  set  forth  the  organization  of 
the  state,  affirming  that  it  was  based  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  natural  law.  It  was  the  development 
of  two  fundamental  maxims:  ''Love  your  neigh- 


236  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

bor  as  yourself,"  and  "Do  not  to  another  what 
you  do  not  wish  him  to  do  to  you."  The  state 
should  be  governed  by  a  body  called  "The  Sov- 
ereign Senate  of  the  very  noble,  very  powerful, 
and  very  Catholic  Chilean  Republic."  The  mem- 
bers of  the  senate  should  be  elected  by  the  people. 
The  Araucanians,  like  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants, 
should  send  deputies  to  this  assembly.  The  death 
penalty  should  not  be  applied  to  any  criminal; 
slavery  should  be  abolished;  social  classes  should 
not  exist;  and  the  land  should  be  divided  into 
equal  portions.  As  soon  as  the  revolution  should 
have  triumphed,  an  army  would  be  raised;  the 
cities  and  the  coast  would  be  fortified,  not  with 
the  design  that  Chile  should  be  moved  by  the 
ambition  of  conquest,  but  in  order  that  she  might 
make  herself  respected,  and  that  her  concessions 
dictated  by  justice  should  not  be  attributed  to 
weakness.  Moreover,  there  should  be  decreed 
freedom  of  trade  with  all  the  nations  of  the  world, 
without  exception,  including  the  Chinese  and  the 
Negroes,  and  even  with  Spain  that  had  pretended 
to  isolate  America  from  the  rest  of  the  earth.^ 

The  manifesto  ended  with  a  note  to  the  king 
of  Spain,  informing  him  in  moderate  and  cour- 
teous terms  that  the  Chileans  had  determined  to 
separate  themselves  from  his  rule,  and  to  consti- 
tute themselves  an  independent  republic.^  It 
affirmed,  moreover,  that  they  were  disposed  to 

2  Amunategui,  Los  Precursores,  III,  cap.  4,  Sec.  9. 

3  Barros  Arana,  Hist,  de  Chile,  VI,  405. 


GRAMUSET-BERNEY  CONSPIRACY        237 

offer  to  him  their  friendship  and  their  commerce 
in  case  the  mother  country  preferred  these 
relations  to  an  armed  breach. 

There  was  little  probability  that  this  pro- 
gramme would  be  accepted.  The  majority  of  the 
inhabitants  were  too  ignorant  and  too  far  removed 
from  the  intellectual  currents  of  the  age  to  have 
any  thought  about  government.  The  educated 
minority  were  either  ecclesiastics,  who  were  still 
persuaded  of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  or  en- 
comenderos  or  other  owners  of  property  who  had 
no  wish  to  see  an  equal  distribution  of  the  land. 

The  number  of  persons  privy  to  the  plot  was 
gradually  and  cautiously  increased.  Among  the 
later  enlistments  was  Mariana  Perez  de  Saravia, 
a  lawyer  of  indifferent  standing  from  Buenos 
Aires.  After  mature  consideration  of  his  posi- 
tion, and  troubled  at  finding  himself  involved  in 
a  questionable  undertaking,  he  determined  to  de- 
nounce the  revolutionary  project  to  the  authori- 
ties. The  chief  of  these  authorities  at  this  time 
(1781)  was  the  governor  and  captain-general 
Ambrosio  de  Benavides,  whose  advanced  age  ren- 
dered him  infirm  and  inefficient.  The  effective 
head  of  the  government  was  Tomas  Alvarez  de 
Acevedo,  the  regent  of  the  audiencia.  To  him 
Saravia  addressed  a  letter  announcing  the  exist- 
ence of  a  conspiracy  to  effect  a  political  revolution. 
Finding  Saravia 's  assertion  in  accord  with  re- 
ports from  other  sources,  Acevedo  resolved  to  act 
on  it.  But  at  this  point  he  encountered  embar- 
rassment. 


238  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

He  was  aware  that  revolution  tends  to  breed 
revolution,  and  that  to  announce  publicly  the  fact 
that  the  separation  of  Chile  from  Spain  had  been 
advocated,  would  put  the  thought  of  emancipation 
into  many  minds.  He  had,  therefore,  to  devise  a 
plan  under  which  the  offenders  might  be  arrested, 
tried,  and  punished  without  making  partisans  for 
the  revolution. 

Ill 

Saravia  continued  his  association  with  Berney, 
and  entered  into  relations  with  Gramuset.  He 
pursued  the  business  of  a  spy  with  the  zeal  of  a 
renegade.  When  Acevedo  had  derived  from 
Saravia  the  needed  information,  he  caused  the 
conspirators  to  be  arrested  and  subjected  to  a 
secret  trial.  The  proposed  arrest  of  Rojas  and 
Orejuela  produced  a  new  difficulty.  On  account 
of  their  conspicuous  positions  in  the  community, 
they  could  not  be  smuggled  away  and  imprisoned 
without  causing  their  absence  to  become  noted  and 
inquiries  to  be  set  on  foot  regarding  it.  Such 
inquiries  would  inevitably  expose  the  fact  that  the 
emancipation  of  the  colony  had  been  advocated, 
by  persons  of  social  importance.  The  pro- 
posed proceedings  against  them,  therefore,  were 
dropped. 

The  sentence  on  Berney  and  Gramuset  was 
pronounced  February  5,  1781.  It  was  decided 
to  withhold  the  punishment  legally  due,  and  to 


GRAMUSET-BERNEY  CONSPIRACY        239 

send  the  prisoners  to  the  viceroy  of  Peru,  with 
a  complete  record  of  the  case.* 

The  consideration  of  the  fate  of  these  con- 
spirators occupied  the  attention  of  the  crown,  the 
Council  of  the  Indies,  and  the  viceroy  of  Peru  for 
a  number  of  years.  In  the  meantime  Berney  and 
Gramuset  remained  imprisoned  in  Lima,  the 
authorities  hesitating  to  send  them  to  Spain,  lest 
they  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  British,  and 
thus  reveal  to  the  enemy  the  fact  that  a  conspiracy 
had  existed  in  Chile  to  overthrow  the  government 
and  establish  a  republic.  Finally,  in  1784,  after 
peace  had  been  made  with  Great  Britain,  Berney 
and  Gramuset  were  embarked  in  a  man-of-war. 
Berney  was  lost  in  a  shipwreck  on  reaching  the 
coast  of  Portugal;  Gramuset,  however,  arrived 
at  Cadiz,  and  was  imprisoned  in  one  of  the  sub- 
terranean cells  of  the  castle,  where  he  perished 
miserably  in  1786.  The  government  of  Chile,  as 
suggested,  wished  to  keep  the  people  in  ignorance 
of  the  projected  revolution,  lest  the  knowledge  of 
it  should  breed  further  discontent,  and  it  was  so 
successful  in  this  undertaking  that  no  popular 
tradition  of  the  proposed  movement  survived  in 
Chile;  yet  when  revealed  by  the  researches  of 
Chilean  historians,  it  is  seen  to  be  one  of  the 
early  manifestations  of  discontent,  which  were 
followed  by  others  from  time  to  time  until  the 
violent  outbreak,  thirty  years  later.^ 

*  The  sentence  is  printed  in  Amunategui,  Los  Precursores,  III, 
230. 

5  For  the  details  of  this  conspiracy  one  may  consult  Una  con- 
spiracion  en  1780,  by  Miguel  Luis  Amunategui  and  Gregorio  Vic- 


240  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

To  these  rebellions  and  conspiracies  one  might 
add  a  number  of  others  that  were  less  far-reaching 
in  their  effects,  but  prompted  by  essentially  the 
same  causes.  Among  the  more  noteworthy  of 
these  were  the  revolt  in  Venezuela,  led  by  Fran- 
cisco de  Leon,  and  that  led  by  Felipe  Velasco  in 
the  province  of  Huarochiri.  They  were  all  pro- 
voked by  burdens,  abuses,  and  hardships  imposed 
by  the  government,  its  agents,  or  by  members  of 
a  dominant  class  or  corporation.® 

tor  Amunategui;  Barros  Arana,  Hist,  de  Chile,  VI,  404-420; 
Amunategui,  M.  L.,  Los  Precursores,  III,  cap.  4. 

The  experience  of  Jose  Antonio  de  Rojas,  who  went  from  Chile 
to  Spain  in  1772  and  returned  in  1777,  indicates  one  of  the 
methods  by  which  liberal  or  revolutionary  ideas  entered  America. 
He  became  interested  in  the  characteristic  thought  of  the  last  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  purchased  and  sent  to  America 
many  of  the  notable  books  of  the  time:  The  Encyclopedic  of 
D'Alembert  and  Diderot,  the  works  of  Eousseau,  Montesquieu, 
Helvetius,  Eobertson,  Holbach,  and  Eaynal.  Writing  to  Jose  Per- 
fecto  de  Salas  in  December,  1774,  he  notes  the  fact  that  "a  very 
singular  work  has  appeared,  entitled.  The  Political  and  Philo- 
sophical History  of  European  Establishments  and  Commerce  in 
the  Indies.  It  is  anonymous,  and  appears  to  have  been  printed 
in  Amsterdam.  It  is  prohibited  because  the  author  speaks  very 
clearly,  and  because  he  utters  certain  truths. "  In  a  later  letter 
to  the  same  person,  Eojas  says  "the  author  of  the  work  men- 
tioned is  Abbe  Eaynal.  This  hombre  divino,  this  true  philosopher, 
is  worthy  of  the  praise  of  the  whole  literary  world,  and  particu- 
larly of  Americans."  Quoted  by  Amunategui,  La  cronica  de  1810, 
II,  47-49;  on  Eejas,  see  Ibid,  II,  5-107. 

6  Schumacher,  H.  A.,  Sudamerikanische  Studien,  Berlin,  1884, 
172;  Mendiburu,  VIII,  295.  Mendiburu  prints  the  barbarous  sen- 
tence pronounced  upon  Velasco  and  his  followers,  VIII,  295-298. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  REORGANIZATION  OF  THE  VICEROYALTY 
OF  RIO  DE  LA  PLATA 

I.  The  Ordinanza  de  Intendentes.  II.  Status  and  func- 
tions of  the  intendants.  HI.  The  ordinance  applied 
in  Peru  and  Chile.  IV.  The  reformed  ordinance 
of  1802.  V.  The  state  of  Buenos  Aires  and  the 
adjacent  country. 


One  of  the  effects  of  the  conspiracies  and  rebel- 
lions already  referred  to  was  to  convince  the 
supreme  government  that  the  state  was  failing  in 
its  great  undertaking.  Conspicuous  evidence  of 
this  was  the  relation  that  existed  between  the  cor- 
regidores  and  the  Indians.  These  officials  stood 
nearer  the  bulk  of  the  inhabitants  than  any  others, 
and  had  thus  the  most  advantageous  position  for 
either  inspiring  loyalty  or  creating  dissatisfaction 
and  hostility.  The  records  of  their  conduct  show 
how  little  they  did  to  attract  or  please  the  Indian, 
and  how  much  to  repel  and  enrage  him.  Neither 
the  Indian's  person  nor  his  property  was  secure 
from  the  abusive  and  unjustifiable  acts  of  the  cor- 
regidor;  and  through  the  reforms  that  followed 
these  intrigues  and  revolts  the  office  of  the  cor- 
regidor  disappeared. 


242  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

In  spite  of  the  power  nominally  conferred  upon 
officials  in  America,  the  king  sought  to  keep  in  his 
own  hands  or  in  the  hands  of  the  Council  of  the 
Indies  the  essential  power  in  all  matters  of  funda- 
mental importance;  but  this  involved  governing 
at  long  range,  and  no  adequate  means  existed  for 
overcoming  the  difficulties  of  communication. 
The  old  governmental  machine  had  shown  itself 
unfit  for  the  work  it  had  to  do.  The  energy  even 
of  Charles  III,  Spain's  ablest  king,  made  itself 
only  imperfectly  felt  in  the  remote  provinces  of 
the  dependencies.  The  power  of  Spain  was  de- 
clining in  America  because  the  governmental 
organization  was  inadequate  to  carry  that  power 
to  points  where  its  exercise  was  needed.  The 
Ordinanza  de  intendentes  was  issued  for  the  vice- 
royalty  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  in  order  to  introduce 
an  important  administrative  reform.  With  cer- 
tain modifications  it  was  extended  to  the  other 
dependencies  in  South  America  and  to  Mexico. 
It  divided  the  territory  of  Rio  de  la  Plata  into 
eight  intendencies,  each  taking  the  name «.  of  its 
principal  city.  The  territory  of  each,  with  certain 
exceptions,  was  made  to  coincide  with  that  of  the 
bishopric  in  which  the  capital  city  lay.  These 
exceptions  refer  to  certain  districts  that  were 
parts  of  a  bishopric  but  not  subject  to  the  corre- 
sponding intendant.  Mojos  and  Chiquitos  were 
included  in  the  diocese  of  Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra, 
but  were  military  governments  in  immediate 
subordination  to  the  viceroy.     Montevideo   and 


RIO  DE  LA  PLATA  REORGANIZED        243 

Misiones  were  other  exceptions  of  a  somewhat 
similar  kind/  They  were  in  the  bishopric  of 
Buenos  Aires,  but  not  under  the  intendant  of 
Buenos  Aires  or  any  other  intendant.  On  the 
other  hand  the  bishopric  of  Paraguay  had  the 
same  limits  as  the  intendancy  of  Paraguay. 

The  capitals  named  in  the  ordinance  were 
Buenos  Aires,  Asuncion,  Tucuman,  Santa  Cruz 
de  la  Sierra,  La  Paz,  Mendoza,  La  Plata,  and 
Potosi.  The  powers  of  the  viceroy  were  not  to  be 
curtailed,  except  that  the  supervision  and  control 
of  the  royal  treasury  was  to  be  under  the  general 
intendant,  who,  in  this  matter  was  to  act  with 
absolute  independence  of  the  viceroy.^  Under  this 
law  the  corregidores  were  suppressed  or  sup- 
planted by  sub-delegates,  who,  in  divisions  of  the 
intendency  called  partidos,  were  subordinated  to 
the  intendant. 


II 

The  audiencia  of  Buenos  Aires  was  created  in 
1783,  the  year  following  the  publication  of  the 
Ordinanza.  It  embraced  within  its  jurisdiction 
the  provinces  of  Buenos  Aires,  Tucuman,  Para- 
guay, and  Cuyo.  The  inhabitants  were  thus  sub- 
ject to  the  superior  authority  of  the  viceroy,  which 

1  Quesada,  Vireinato,  574. 

2  Lopez,  V.  F.,  Historia  argentina,  Buenos  Aires,  1883,  I,  403 ; 
Ordenanza  de  indendentes,  Art  2;  Quesada,  Vireinato,  387-519; 
for  the  dates  of  the  establishment  of  the  bishoprics  and  the  terri- 
tory of  each,  see  Zinny,  Gobernadores,  I,  XCVI. 


244  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

reached  every  part  of  the  kingdom ;  to  the  general 
intendant;  to  the  governors-intendants,  limited  to 
their  several  indendancies ;  to  the  audiencia  of 
Buenos  Aires,  in  the  provinces  of  Buenos  Aires, 
Tucuman,  Paraguay,  and  Cuyo ;  and  to  the  audi- 
encia of  Charcas,  in  the  provinces  of  Upper  Peru. 
To  these  several  secular  authorities  must  be  added 
the  ecclesiastical  authority  of  the  bishops.  The 
officers  of  the  voceroyalty,  under  this  organization, 
may  be  considered  as  apportioned  to  two  depart- 
ments under  the  king,  the  heads  of  which  were 
made  responsible  to  him.  At  the  head  of  the  first 
stood  the  viceroy.  At  the  head  of  the  second 
stood  the  general  intendant  of  the  army  and  the 
treasury.  The  chief  official  of  each  of  the  eight 
intendancies  had  the  double  title  of  governor- 
intendant ;  for  he  was  subordinated  to  the  viceroy 
in  affairs  relating  to  the  police,  instruction,  wor- 
ship, and  the  judiciary,  while  he  was  the  agent  of 
the  general  intendant  in  his  intendancy,  with  ref- 
erence to  revenues,  expenditures,  and  all  other 
fiscal  matters. 

This  distribution  of  power  did  not  create  local 
governments,  as  that  term  is  used  with  reference 
to  a  constitutional  state.  The  divisions  of  the 
viceroyalty  were  merely  administrative  districts; 
and  the  officers  who  exercised  power  in  them  did 
not  derive  their  authority  from  local  constituents, 
but  from  the  king.  They  were  not  parts  of  a 
federation,  but  agents  of  an  absolute  centralized 
superior,  or  rather  of  two  superiors  that  were 


RIO  DE  LA  PLATA  REORGANIZED        245 

expected  to  work  along  different  but  parallel 
lines;  and  ^'what  made  the  application  of  the 
ordinance  of  intendants,  of  1782,  inconvenient 
and  impossible  in  practice  was  the  hierarchical 
administrative  subdivision  which  it  introduced. 
A  viceroy  of  the  treasury  and  a  viceroy  of  politi- 
cal government  were  two  incompatible  terms.'" 
The  inconvenience  of  this  bifurcated  administra- 
tion was  soon  set  aside,  and  the  two  functions 
which  the  ordinance  had  separated  were  united  in 
the  viceroy.  This  was  done  by  suppressing  the 
independence  of  the  general  intendant  and  making 
him  subject  to  the  viceroy.  The  chiefs  remained 
independent  of  one  another  only  during  the 
administration  of  Vertiz  (1778-1784),  and  while 
Manuel  Fernandez  was  the  general  intendant. 
On  the  appointment  of  Francisco  de  Paula  Sanz, 
as  general  intendant,  he  was  subordinated  to  the 
viceroy,  and  became  at  the  same  time  governor- 
intendant  of  the  intendancy  of  Buenos  Aires,  and 
in  this  capacity  he  exercised  the  same  functions 
as  the  governor-intendants  of  the  other  inten- 
dances ;  but  in  his  character  as  general  intendant, 
he  had  general  jurisdiction  in  the  whole  territory 
of  the  viceroyalty,  and  as  governor-intendant  of 
Buenos  Aires,  his  jurisdiction  was  limited  to  the 
territory  of  the  bishopric,  coextensive  with  the 
intendancy.* 

3  Lopez,  Historia  argentina,  I,  408. 

4  Quesada,  Vireinato,  449. 


246  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

ni 

The  ordinance  of  intendants  was  applied  in 
Peru  by  the  creation  of  eight  intendancies.  These 
were  the  intendancies  of  Trujillo,  Lima,  Tarma, 
Huancavelica,  Guamanga,  Cuzco,  Puno,  and  Are- 
quipa,  which  were  divided  into  fifty-seven  par- 
tidos/  The  application  to  Chile  was  delayed,  in 
order  that  the  question  of  Chile 's  relation  to  Peru 
might  be  considered,  and  this  was  finally  resolved 
by  a  royal  order  of  June  1, 1784.  This  order  pro- 
vided that  Chile  should  remain  dependent  on  the 
viceroyalty  of  Peru  with  respect  to  the  military 
administration  and  the  affairs  of  the  royal  treas- 
ury. The  territory  was  divided  into  two  inten- 
dancies. The  northern  part  of  the  country,  from 
the  southern  boundary  of  Peru  to  the  river  Maule, 
constituted  the  intendancy  of  Santiago ;  the  region 
between  the  Maule  and  the  Araucanian  frontier 
formed  the  intendancy  of  Concepcion.  This 
division  was  confirmed  January  14,  1786,  by  the 
viceroy  of  Peru.  Ambrosio  de  Benavides  became 
the  intendant  of  Santiago,  while  Ambrosio  0  'Hig- 
gins  was  appointed  to  the  same  office  in  Concep- 
cion. In  these,  as  in  all  other  cases  under  this  law, 
the  intendant  appointed  a  legal  adviser.  Besides 
these  two  cities,  the  only  other  town  of  importance 
in  Chile  was  La  Serena;  for  the  majority  of  the 
inhabitants  were  engaged  in  agriculture,  and  lived 
scattered  throughout  the  country.     After  the  two 

5  Paz  Soldan,  Mariano  Felipe,  Historia  del  Peru  independente, 
Lima,  1868,  I,  1. 


RIO  DE  LA  PLATA  REORGANIZED        247 

intendancies  had  been  approved  by  the  king 
(February  6, 1787),  the  project  to  make  La  Serena 
the  capital  of  a  third  intendancy  was  considered 
and  rejected.  The  province  of  Chiloe  remained 
dependent  on  the  viceroy  of  Peru. 

IV 

The  organization  and  procedure  established 
by  the  royal  ordinance  of  1782  was  modified  by 
the  general  ordinance  of  1802^ 

The  later  ordinance  superseded  the  earlier, 
and  the  first  article  of  it  declared  that  each  prov- 
ince should  be  in  charge  of  a  single  person  with 
the  title  of  intendant,  reuniting  the  political  and 
the  military  governments.  It  also  provided  that 
the  intendant  should  be  appointed  by  the  king. 
The  ordinance  itself  appears  as  a  constitution  for 
the  colonial  governments  in  America,  and  deals 
with  the  superior  government,  the  subordinate 
governments,  and  the  whole  hierarchical  order  of 
employees,  pointing  out  to  each  one  his  powers 
and  duties,  in  a  word,  his  jurisdiction.'^  It  pro- 
vides for  the  establishment  of  superior  councils 
in  all  of  the  capitals  of  the  viceroyalties  and  the 
captaincies-general.  One  of  these  superior  coun- 
cils, or  courts,  with  the  title  of  contensiosa,  took 
account  of  private  cases,  everything  that  involved 

6  The  title  of  this  later  ordinance  was :  Ordinanza  general 
formada  de  orden  de  S.  M.  y  mandada  imprimir  y  publicar  para 
el  gobiemo  e  instruccion  de  intendentes,  subdelegados  y  demos 
empleados  de  Indias. 

7  Quesada,  Vireinato,  486. 


248  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

a  point  of  law  that  could  be  settled  by  trial;  the 
other,  the  junta  superior  de  gohierno,  of  which 
the  intendant  of  the  capital  was  an  ex-officio 
member,  rendered  opinions  in  cases  involving 
governmental  matters,  everything  relative  to  the 
revenues,  the  method,  manner,  and  time  of  collect- 
ing them,  as  well  as  to  employees  and  their  powers 
and  obligations.  In  so  far  as  the  members  of 
these  two  courts  were  in  sympathy  with  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  capital  where  they  resided  and 
shared  their  aspirations  with  respect  to  local 
affairs,  they  formed  a  counterpoise  to  the  cen- 
tralized power  exercised  by  the  viceroy.  But  all 
of  these  functionaries  of  the  capitals  were  under 
the  superior  jurisdiction  of  the  audiencias,  whose 
powers  lay  above  the  range  of  these  reforms,  and 
who  still  were  authorized  to  assume  the  viceregal 
functions  in  case  of  the  death  of  the  viceroy  with- 
out provision  made  for  an  immediate  successor. 
Subject  to  the  viceregal  superiority  and  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  audiencia,  the  intendants,  as 
provincial  governors  by  royal  appointment,  con- 
tinued to  exercise  those  large  powers  which  natu- 
rally devolved  upon  them  as  agents  of  the  viceroy 
and  as  important  members  of  an  administrative 
hierarchy,  where  the  head  was  absolute  and  the 
other  members  too  isolated  to  be  effectively  under 
practical  control.^ 

8  For  a  general  statement  concerning  the  condition  of  affairs 

in  the  viceroyalty  of  Eio  de  la  Plata  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 

century,  see  the  Memoria  of  the  viceroy  Aviles,  addressed  to  his 

successor,  Joaquin  del  Pino,  dated  at  Buenos  Aires,  May  21,  1801, 

M  and  printed  in  Zinny,  Gohernadores,  I,  XLVII-XCVI. 


RIO  DE  LA  PLATA  REORGANIZED        249 

V 

At  the  time  of  these  reforms,  early  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  century,  the  town  of  Buenos  Aires 
was  in  a  neglected  state,  and  the  condition  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  neighboring  country  was  even 
more  lamentable.  In  addition  to  the  lack  of  the 
resources  of  civilized  life,  they  were  harrassed  by 
Indian  raids.  Many  of  the  men  were  killed,  and 
women  and  children  were  carried  off  into  cap- 
tivity. The  region  presented  no  places  especially 
favorable  for  defense,  or  passes  where  the  ap- 
proaching bands  might  be  attacked  and  destroyed. 
From  any  part  of  the  vast  plain,  they  swooped 
down  upon  their  unfortunate  victims.  To  patrole 
the  pampas  and  give  security  to  the  country  popu- 
lation was  a  task  quite  beyond  the  power  of  any 
militia  then  at  the  disposal  of  the  government. 

The  city  of  Buenos  Aires  at  this  time  showed 
the  results  of  shameful  neglect.  Many  of  the 
streets  were  impassable  the  greater  part  of  the 
year.  The  heavy  rains  carried  off  the  loose 
material,  leaving  deep,  irregular  gullies  and  stag- 
nant pools.  From  the  west  a  stream  entered 
the  city;  it  separated  into  two  branches,  formed 
deep  water-courses  that  cut  off  almost  completely 
different  districts  from  one  another.  The  inhab- 
itants enjoyed  few  of  the  facilities  ordinarily 
incident  to  living  in  a  city  as  wealthy  and  populous 
as  Buenos  Aires  was  then.  There  was  no  hospital, 
no  public  lighting,  no  police ;  and  the  streets  were 


250  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

unpaved.  The  abundant  wealth  was  largely  in 
the  hands  of  persons  whose  ignorance  or  whose 
meanness  prevented  the  public  from  deriving  any 
advantage  from  it.  Even  the  idea  of  placing 
lights  in  front  of  their  houses  at  night  did  not 
occur  to  the  inhabitants  as  desirable. 

Viceroy  Juan  Jose  Vertiz  (1778-1784)  under- 
took to  remedy  some  of  these  evident  defects.  In 
spite  of  the  lack  of  cooperation  of  the  inhabitants, 
he  began  to  improve  the  streets;  he  founded  a 
hospital,  established  a  home  for  foundlings,  cre- 
ated an  orphan  asylum,  and  took  steps  towards 
introducing  a  system  of  street-lighting.  The 
foundling  asylum  was  supported  in  part  by  rents 
derived  from  estates  confiscated  from  the  Jesuits ; 
in  part  from  the  proceeds  of  bull-fights;  in  part 
from  the  income  from  the  theater;  and  in  part 
from  the  gains  of  the  printing  office.  The  munici- 
pal lighting  was  supported  by  a  door  tax  of  two 
reals  on  each  street  door.  Recognizing  that  the 
life  of  the  city  was  barren  and  that  there  were 
few  social  influences  except  those  making  for 
degeneracy,  Vertiz  determined  to  establish  a 
theater  which  might  furnish  a  certain  degree  of 
inspiration  through  the  heroic  characters  it  would 
present,  and  the  cultivated  language  of  the  plays. 
In  carrying  out  this  project  he  naturally  encoun- 
tered the  opposition  of  the  clergy.  A  Franciscan 
friar,  Jose  Acosta,  went  so  far  as  to  censure,  from 
the  pulpit,  these  public  amusements  patronized 
by  the  viceroy.     He  "declared  in  the  name  of 


RIO  DE  LA  PLATA  REORGANIZED        251 

the  Holy  Spirit  that  those  who  attended  them 
would  incur  eternal  damnation."^  The  viceroy, 
having  learned  of  the  attitude  assumed  by  the 
friar,  required  him  to  be  expelled  from  the  mon- 
astery, and  another  preacher  to  repudiate  his 
utterances. 

The  superiority  of  Buenos  Aires  over  the 
other  cities  of  the  viceroyalty  was  rather  prospec- 
tive than  actual.  It  was  at  this  time  in  no  sense 
a  center  of  wealth  or  cultivation.  It  had  an  old 
fort,  a  town  organization,  and  an  old  market. 
The  suggestion  that  it  would  absorb  the  life  of  the 
other  towns  did  not  seem  to  point  to  a  real  danger. 
The  cities  of  Cordova,  Tucuman,  and  Salta  ap- 
peared then  so  firmly  established  as  not  likely  to 
be  affected  by  the  rivalry  of  the  port.  These  cities 
were  richer  and  more  populous  than  Buenos 
Aires.  Cordova  had  a  university,  while  no  such 
institution  existed  at  Buenos  Aires  in  the  colonial 
period.  Cordova  was,  moreover,  the  residence  of 
a  bishop,  and  it  was  an  important  point  on  the 
line  of  trade  between  the  eastern  provinces  and 
Chile,  Cuyo,  and  Peru.  In  some  respects  Chu- 
quisaca  was  even  more  important  than  Cordova. 
It  was  the  seat  of  an  audiencia,  the  residence  of 
the  archbishop  of  La  Plata,  and  the  place  of  resi- 
dence of  many  persons  of  wealth.  In  fact,  the 
centers  of  wealth  and  cultivation  were  not  at  the 
shore  or  in  the  valleys  of  the  great  river  of  the 
eastern  part  of  the  continent,  but  in  the  mountains 

9  Lopez,  Historia  Argentina,  I,  438. 


252  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

near  the  mines  of  Upper  Peru.  But  Buenos  Aires 
had  one  point  of  advantage  that  was  destined  to 
become  appreciated  when  the  significance  of  its 
agriculture  and  foreign  commerce  with  respect 
to  progress  in  civilization  should  become  known. 
The  Spaniards  were  under  the  delusion  that  civi- 
lization could  be  developed  in  isolation;  that  it 
was  a  matter  of  precept,  not  a  result  of  social 
contact  and  imitation.  In  the  last  quarter  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  the  society  of  the  river  coun- 
try and  that  of  the  mountain  country  were  too 
different  to  permit  a  great  degree  of  sjonpathy 
to  exist  between  them;  and  Paraguay,  with  the 
large  Indian  element  in  the  population  and  its 
traditions  of  theocratic  government,  had  also  a 
character  peculiar  to  itself. 

Finding  Buenos  Aires  without  facilities  for 
printing  and  consequently  without  the  desired 
means  for  distributing  information  among  the 
people,  Vertiz  endeavored  to  supply  this  de- 
ficiency. He  fortunately  discovered  that  the 
Jesuits,  on  their  expulsion,  had  left  a  fully 
equipped  printing  office  in  the  college  of  Nuestra 
Senora  de  Monserrat  in  Cordova.  This  equip- 
ment he  caused  to  be  transferred  to  Buenos  Aires. 
Here  he  encountered  a  new  difficulty :  he  knew  no 
one  competent  to  set  up  the  press  and  use  it.  He 
sent  inquiries  to  all  the  provinces  for  such  a  per- 
son, and  was  finally  informed  by  the  governor  of 
Montevideo  that  there  was  in  that  city  a  young 
sergeant  who  had  worked  in  a  printing  house  in 


RIO  DE  LA  PLATA  REORGANIZED        253 

Cadiz.  The  viceroy  called  him  to  Buenos  Aires 
to  assume  immediate  charge  of  the  undertaking; 
he  offered  him  for  a  wife  any  one  of  the  inmates 
of  the  orphan  asylum.  The  young  man  with 
marvellous  modesty  expressed  his  desire  to  accept 
the  choice  of  his  patron,  who  is  reported  to  have 
made  a  satisfactory  selection.  Thus  was  founded 
a  printing  house  and  at  the  same  time  an  im- 
portant family  of  the  viceregal  capital.  The 
printing  house  continued  to  be  known  for  many 
years  under  the  designation  of  Imprenta  de  los 
Ninos  Expositos. 

Around  the  colonial  city  was  the  colonial 
country,  and  the  character  of  this  background 
determined  the  character  of  the  city's  life.  Be- 
hind Potosi  lay  the  rough  and  barren  summits  of 
the  eastern  Andes,  with  their  rich  mines  of  silver. 
Potosi  was  necessarily  a  miner's  town.  La  Paz 
lies  in  a  deep  gash  cut  in  the  interandean  table 
land,  bounded  by  the  inhospitable  plain  of  central 
Bolivia  and  a  ridge  of  the  mountains.  Santiago 
flourished  in  the  delightful  valley  of  central  Chile. 
Back  of  Buenos  Aires  were  spread  out  the  vast 
and  fertile  plains  of  Argentina,  occupied  by  a  few 
land-holders  and  the  multitude  of  a  homeless  prole- 
tariat. In  1744,  for  186  proprietors  there  were 
5897  dependents.  The  latter  were  without  some 
of  the  fundamental  ideas  of  civilization.  To  them 
the  plains  and  the  herds  appeared  like  the  gift 
of  God  to  the  race.  If  they  were  hungry,  there 
were  the  animals  provided  for  man 's  comfort.    If 


254  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

they  needed  shelter,  there  was  the  land  on  which 
they  might  erect  their  habitations.  The  new  order 
of  things,  under  which  the  lands  were  claimed  as 
private  property  and  the  herds  had  individual 
owners,  had  been  brought  about  by  decrees  of  per- 
sons, who  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  dwellers  of 
the  plains  had  no  right  to  either  the  land  or  the 
animals.  Why  should  the  favoritism  of  a  gover- 
nor deprive  them  of  their  ancient  privilege  of 
wandering  or  settling  at  will  ?  As  the  generations 
passed  and  the  blood  of  the  white  man  became 
mixed  with  that  of  the  tribes  of  the  plains,  the 
views  of  the  half -wild  proletariat  remained  prac- 
tically unchanged.  The  savage  had  not  become 
civilized,  but  the  descendants  of  the  white  man 
had  moved  towards  the  savage  state.  In  contrast 
with  the  state  of  things  in  Chile,  the  cheapness  of 
slave  labor  on  the  great  estates  drove  the  free 
men  to  the  desert,  or  made  them  the  unpaid  de- 
pendents of  the  proprietors.  If  endowed  with 
energy  and  daring,  some  of  them  moved  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  territory  that  had  been  granted 
to  private  persons,  and  established  themselves  on 
the  unappropriated  lands,  and  made  there  little 
centers  of  cultivation.  But  their  peace  was  not 
long;  for  a  new  grant  brought  a  new  proprietor 
to  claim  the  results  of  their  labor,  or  they  were 
swept  away  by  the  nomadic  savages. 

The  absence  of  a  minute  division  of  the  land 
was  in  a  large  measure  due  to  the  persistence  of 
the  feudal  ideal  in  the  colonies.    Such  a  division, 


RIO  DE  LA  PLATA  REORGANIZED        255 

if  it  had  been  carried  out,  might  have  furnished 
an  independent  possession  to  every  man  seeking 
a  permanent  home  and  property  for  himself  and 
his  descendants,  and  filled  the  country  with  a  self- 
respecting  population,  democratic  because  of  the 
essential  equality  of  wealth,  and  fitted  in  good 
time  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  republic.  Instead 
of  this,  the  feudal  notion  of  inferior  and  superior 
survived,  making,  when  carried  into  practice,  the 
great  body  of  the  people  in  the  country  either 
miserable  dependents  or  free  men  who  could  find 
no  place  for  a  permanent  home.  This  was  the 
undemocratic  state  of  society,  on  which  it  was 
later  proposed  to  erect  a  democratic  government. 


CHAPTER  X 

AWAKENING  INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND 
POLITICS:   MUTIS  AND  NARiNO 

Beginnings  of  a  new  literary  cultivation.  II.  El 
Mercurio  Peruana ;  Papel  Periodico.  III.  Mutis' 
arrival  and  early  years  in  New  Granada.  IV. 
Mutis  turns  to  botany;  correspondence  with  Lin- 
naeus. V.  Work  of  Caballero  y  Gongora  for  prog- 
ress. VI.  The  Botanical  Expedition.  VII.  The 
viceroy  ordered  to  protect  the  Isthmus  against  in- 
vasion. VIII.  The  viceroy's  commercial  views. 
IX.  The  Botannical  Bureau's  headquarters  trans- 
ferred to  Bogota.  X.  The  Spanish  Botanical  Ex- 
pedition to  Peru.  XI.  Narino  and  the  young 
reformers  and  their  trial.  XII.  Narino  in  Europe ; 
his  return  to  New  Granada  and  imprisonment. 


^  The  revolts  and  conspiracies  in  various  parts  of 
Spain's  South  American  possessions  indicated 
that  the  inhabitants  had  become  conscious  of  their 
individuality  and  of  their  unsatisfactory  state. 
This  consciousness  was  intensified  by  the  intel- 
lectual awakening  that  appeared  in  the  last 
decades  of  the  century.  Unions  with  intellectual 
aims   became    inevitably   patriotic   unions.     The 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     257 

achievements  of  colonial  writers  and  investigators 
did  not  enhance  the  interest  or  the  pride  of  the 
colonists  in  the  mother  country,  but  helped  to  con- 
centrate popular  interest  on  the  welfare  of  the 
colonies,  and  to  magnify  their  aspirations  for 
recognition  as  independent  commonwealths.  The 
intellectual  awakening  brought  into  clearer  light 
the  unreasonableness  of  Spain's  policy,  and 
strengthened  the  opposition  to  Spanish  rule. 

An  illustration  of  this  tendency  may  be 
observed  in  the  consequences  of  the  intellectual 
movement  under  the  later  viceroys  of  New  Gra- 
nada. This  movement  was  characterized  by  a 
new  interest  in  literary  production,  by  a  new  zeal 
in  scientific  investigation,  and  by  attention  to 
questions  of  political  reform. 

One  indication  of  the  changed  attitude  towards 
literature  was  the  formation  of  societies,  or 
'' circles,"  for  the  promotion  of  literary  cultiva- 
tion. One  of  these  societies  in  New  Granada  was 
called  Tertulia  Eutropelica.  All  kinds  of  sub- 
jects were  discussed  at  its  meetings.  At  the  head 
of  it  stood  Manuel  de  Socorro  Rodriguez,  who  was 
one  of  a  small  group  of  its  more  notable  figures. 
Others  of  this  group  were  Maria  Valdes,  Fran- 
cisco Antonio  Rodriguez,  and  Jose  Maria  Gruesso. 
All  of  these,  as  well  as  a  great  majority  of  those 
who  participated  in  the  scientific  and  literary 
movement  of  the  period,  were  Creoles,  men  of 
Spanish  blood  born  in  New  Granada. 


y 


258  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

II 

Indications  of  an  awakening  intellectual  activ- 
ity may  be  seen  also  in  the  literary  and  scientific 
revival  in  the  University  of  San  Marcos,  in  the 
increasing  number  of  persons  who  habitually 
gathered  in  the  newly  established  cafes  of  Lima 
for  literary  discussions,  and  in  the  publication  of 
the  periodical  called  the  Mercurio  Peruano.  In 
Quito  the  Jesuits  had  formed  an  academy  for  the 
study  of  astronomy  and  physics,  but  this  dis- 
appeared with  the  expulsion  of  the  order.  A  little 
later  the  Esciiela  de  la  Concordia  appeared,  de- 
signed to  further  the  study  of  agriculture  and 
industry.  This  institution  undertook  the  publica- 
tion of  a  periodical  known  as  the  Primicias  de  la 
Cultura  de  Quito,  the  first  to  appear  in  that  city. 
The  means  for  printing  had  been  introduced  by 
the  Jesuits,  and  the  Apendice  al  plan  de  estudios 
para  la  real  universidad  de  Quito,  of  1791,  indi- 
cates a  disposition  to  revive  the  intellectual  life 
of  the  institution. 

In  spite  of  the  dense  ignorance  that  prevailed 
generally  throughout  the  viceroyalty,  the  capital 
had  always  contained  a  limited  group  of  cultivated 
persons,  and  this  group  became  especially  active 
during  the  reign  of  Viceroy  Espeleta  (1789-1797). 
One  of  the  noteworthy  manifestations  of  this 
activity  was  the  establishment  and  maintenance 
of  the  Papel  periodico  de  la  ciudad  de  Santafe  de 
Bogota.    It  consisted  of  eight  pages,  and  the  first 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     259 

number  was  published  on  the  9th  of  February, 
1791.  It  deprecated  the  attention  that  had  been 
given  to  insipid,  useless,  and  absurd  questions; 
called  for  an  examination  of  the  marvellous 
nature  of  the  country;  and  endeavored  to  culti- 
vate a  taste  for  literary,  scientific,  and  political 
studies.  Although  liberal  ideas  had  been  more 
or  less  current  in  the  preceding  decade,  Viceroy 
Espeleta  became  ''the  protector  of  the  press 
which  popularized  them.'"  The  appeal  in  favor 
of  more  liberal  thinking  was  made  not  merely  to 
New  Granada,  but  also  to  other  countries  of  Span- 
ish America.  The  first  number  of  the  Papel 
Periodico  was  sent  to  a  literary  society  in  Lima 
with  the  viceroy's  commendation,  and  thus, 
through  his  patronage  and  protection  of  a  publi- 
cation that  encouraged  the  spread  of  emancipated 
thought,  he  unwittingly  contributed  to  weaken  the 
foundations  of  Spanish  rule  in  New  Granada  and 
in  every  other  dependency  to  which  the  journal's 
influence  was  extended.  The  Mercurio  Peruana 
for  April  28,  1791,  devoted  its  leading  article  to 
the  Papel  Periodico,  aflfirming  that  "the  spirit  of 
the  century  is  propitious  for  instruction,  human- 
ity, and  philosophy.  Different  parts  of  America 
have,  for  a  long  time,  found  themselves  in  pos- 
session of  common  ideas,  and  have  unconsciously 
united  in  adopting  the  most  opportune  means  for 
transmitting  them,  namely,  periodicals.  Perhaps 
before  1800  Buenos  Aires  and  Chile  will  respec- 

sGroot,  II,  270. 


260  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

lively  issue  a  Diario,  a  Mer curio,  or  a  Gazeta." 
The  Papel  Periodico  ceased  to  be  published  after 
an  existence  of  five  years.  But  while  it  continued 
to  be  issued,  it  was  used  by  the  new  generation 
of  Creoles  of  New  Granada  in  making  public  their 
ideas  and  aspirations. 

Ill 

A  more  noteworthy  phase  of  the  intellectual 
awakening  in  New  Granada  was  the  series  of 
investigations  led  by  Jose  Celestino  Mutis,  who 
stimulated  a  large  number  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion of  Creoles  to  habits  of  scientific  inquiry. 
Mutis  arrived  in  New  Granada  in  1760,  as  physi- 
cian to  Viceroy  Mesia  de  la  Zerda,  who  landed  at 
Cartagena,  then  the  bulwark  of  Spanish  power  in 
America.  Here  Eslaba  had  spent  the  whole  period 
of  his  viceregal  administration  (1740-1749),  and 
his  successor,  Jose  Alfonso  Pizarro  (1749-1753), 
had  remained  here  the  greater  part  of  his  term  of 
service  in  New  Granada.  But  Solis  (1753-1761) 
had  resided  at  Bogota,  then,  as  many  years  later, 
difficult  of  access;  and  his  successor,  Mesia  de  la 
Zerda  (1761-1773),  followed  his  example.  Zerda 
left  Cartagena  on  the  5th  of  January,  1761.  By 
way  of  the  Magdalena  and  the  Opon  rivers  and 
the  mountain  trail,  he  reached  Bogota  on  the  24th 
of  February.  The  city  as  a  place  of  residence  in 
the  eighteenth  century  did  not  offer  many  attrac- 
tions to  one  coming  from  the  higher  ranks   of 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     261 

European  society.  It  contained  only  a  few  thou- 
sand inhabitants.  Under  Viceroy  Guirior  (1773- 
1776),  there  were  16,233.  In  1794,  sixteen  or 
eighteen  years  later,  there  were  only  17,405. 
Most  of  the  institutions  characteristic  of  a  civi- 
lized community  were  wanting.* 

The  country  was  without  roads.  Whatever 
communication  was  maintained  made  use  of 
rivers,  mountain  trails,  and  Indian  paths.  The 
missions  were  protected  by  military  garrisons. 
The  finances  of  the  kingdom  were  in  a  low  state ; 
even  the  more  important  centers  of  population 
furnished  only  meager  incomes  to  meet  local  ex- 
penditures or  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  royal 
treasury.  And  at  this  time  the  commission  for 
establishing  the  boundary  between  the  Spanish 
and  the  Portuguese  dependencies  in  the  north, 
under  the  direction  of  Jose  de  Yturriaga,  was 
soliciting  funds  for  the  maintenance  of  its  large 
staff  of  engineers,  draughtsmen,  mathematicians, 
naturalists,  and  an  escort  of  more  than  a  hundred 
men.  The  extreme  of  embarrassment  was,  how- 
ever, avoided  by  the  arrival  of  the  information 
that  the  treaty  of  demarcation  had  been  annulled 
by  the  agreement  of  February  12,  1761. 

In  1762  the  viceroy,  accompanied  by  Mutis, 
returned  to  the  coast  by  way  of  Honda  and  the 
Magdalena  river.  This  journey  was  undertaken 
to  make  sure  that  the  defenses  of  Cartagena  were 

4  The  name  of  the  city  at  this  time  was  Santa  F6  de  Bogota, 
but  it  was  usually  called  Santa  Fe.  A  law  of  December  17,  1819, 
made  Bogota  the  official  designation. 


262  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

strong  enough  to  withstand  any  attack  which 
Great  Britain  might  make.  After  the  conclusion 
of  peace  and  his  return  to  Bogota,  Mutis  devoted 
some  part  of  his  time  to  instruction  in  the  Colegio 
de  Nuestra  Senora  del  Rosario.  The  subject 
taught  by  him  was  Mathematics,  not  Medicine  or 
Botany  or  Natural  History.  His  public  presenta- 
tion of  the  doctrines  of  Newton  raised  against 
him  a  storm  of  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  secu- 
lar clergy  and  the  monks,  but  the  protection  of 
the  viceroy  appears  to  have  fixed  a  point  beyond 
which  their  opposition  might  not  go. 


IV 

Zerda  recognized  the  low  state  into  which  min- 
ing for  the  precious  metals  had  fallen,  and  made 
an  effort  to  increase  the  production.  For  this 
purpose  Jose  Antonio  de  Villegas  y  Avendano 
was  called  from  Lima,  and  commissioned  to  ex- 
amine and  report  on  certain  districts  north  of 
Bogota.  Mutis  accompanied  him,  and  remained 
for  a  number  of  years  in  the  region  about  Pam- 
plona. These  efforts  were  attended  with  no 
especially  striking  results,  and  the  attention  of 
Mutis  was  hereafter  directed  more  exclusively  to 
a  botanical  survey  of  the  country.  Linnaeus  had 
urged  him  to  make  botany  the  object  of  his  inves- 
tigations. Mutis'  correspondence  with  the  Swed- 
ish botanist   suffered   serious   interruptions,   for 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     263 

Linnaeus'  letters  were  in  the  beginning  directed 
to  Santa  Fe  in  New  Mexico  instead  of  to  Santa 
Fe  in  New  Granada.  In  this  correspondence, 
when  finally  established,  there  was  much  refer- 
ence to  chinchona.  Although  the  quality  of  the 
bark  as  a  remedy  for  fever  had  been  known  for 
more  than  a  hundred  years,  scientific  inquiries 
concerning  it  had  only  recently  been  undertaken. 
Condamine,  of  the  geographical  commission,  had 
published  a  report  on  this  subject  in  the  trans- 
actions of  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  this 
report  had  been  made  the  basis  of  Linnaeus' 
description. 

The  intellectual  progress  of  New  Granada, 
stimulated  by  the  activity  of  Mutis,  had  been 
checked  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits.  It  was 
the  members  of  this  society  that  were  furnishing 
the  most  hopeful  instruction  in  the  missions  and 
other  remote  parts  of  the  kingdom.  To  repair  the 
temporal  damage  caused  by  their  removal,  the 
viceroy  appointed  Francisco  Antonio  Moreno  to 
be  the  executor  of  the  Jesuits'  heritage.  Moreno 
was  born  in  Mariquita,  was  educated  in  Spain, 
and  had  been  fiscal  of  the  audiencia.  In  his  new 
office,  he  conceived  a  comprehensive  system  of 
instruction  that,  among  other  things,  would  pro- 
vide for  a  school  wherever  a  Jesuit  mission  had 
existed.  With  the  confiscated  book  collections  of 
the  Jesuits  he  founded  a  public  library,  and  to 
these  measures  Mutis  gave  his  enthusiastic  ap- 
proval.    The  Colegio  del  Rosario,  where  Mutis 


264  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

had  taught  mathematics,  was  transformed  into  a 
university  and  removed  from  clerical  domination. 
In  this  institution  Mutis  resumed  his  instruction, 
now  as  professor  of  mathematics.  Referring  to 
the  failure  of  the  Spaniards  adequately  to  exploit 
the  products  of  their  territory  and  to  bring  them 
into  general  use,  Moreno  cited  chinchona  as  an 
illustration,  and  expressed  regret  that  they  should 
be  obliged  to  beg  from  the  French  such  a  product 
of  their  own  soil. 

In  1772,  Zerda  returned  to  Spain;  Mutis,  who 
had  accompanied  him  to  America  as  his  physician, 
was  invited  to  make  the  return  voyage  in  the  same 
capacity.  He  decided,  however,  to  decline  the 
invitation.  The  distinguished  engineer,  Francisco 
Requena,  under  the  persuasion  of  the  viceroy, 
reached  the  same  decision.  Although  Requena 
had  gone  to  New  Granada  for  a  brief  period  of 
colonial  service  pre-requisite  for  promotion  in 
Spain,  he  remained  in  America  three  decades,  and 
became  the  head  of  the  Spanish  Boundary  Com- 
mission provided  for  by  the  Spanish-Portuguese 
treaty  of  1777. 

Shortly  after  the  departure  of  Viceroy  Zerda, 
Mutis  entered  the  priesthood,  but  in  his  new 
character  his  attention  was  not  distracted  from 
his  scientific  work.  The  new  viceroy,  Manuel  de 
Guirior,  was  received  at  Honda,  April  16,  1773, 
by  a  number  of  the  higher  officers  of  the  viceregal 
government  at  Bogota.  Mutis  was  a  member  of 
this  reception  committee,  and  a  little  later,  in  a 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     265 

letter  to  Linnaeus,  wrote  as  follows  concerning 
Guirior : 

"Our  illustrious  Viceroy,  just  arrived  in  this 
town  from  Spain,  is  a  most  ardent  promoter  of 
science.  He  has  become  acquainted  with  our  cor- 
respondence in  consequence  of  your  present  of 
books,  confided  to  his  care ;  and  he  is  much  inter- 
ested in  what  passes  between  us.  He  generally 
enters  into  conversation  with  me,  after  dinner, 
about  you;  and  makes  me  read  passages  out  of 
your  letters,  highly  flattering  to  me  in  which  he 
takes  great  delight,  though  they  put  me  to  the 
blush.  This  benevolent  man,  a  few  days  since, 
took  me  with  him  into  the  hilly  country,  where  he 
went  for  the  purpose  of  planting  strawberries, 
now  one  of  our  luxuries,  in  order  that  they  may 
become  naturalized  all  over  these  mountains."^ 


V 

Guirior  showed  his  sympathy  with  the  liberal- 
izing efforts  of  his  predecessor  and  the  work  of 
Moreno  and  Mutis  by  defending  their  educational 
reforms  against  the  attacks  of  the  church.  He 
undertook,  moreover,  to  improve  the  financial  con- 
dition of  the  kingdom  by  extending  the  system  of 
monopolies,  notably  those  of  tobacco  and  chin- 

5  Smith,  James  Edward,  A  Selection  of  the  Correspondence  of 
Linnaeus  and  other  Naturalists.  London,  1821,  11,  525.  The 
editor  of  this  correspondence  wrote,  in  Rees'  Cyclopedia,  XXV, 
Art.  "Mutis,"  that  Mutis  was  the  means  of  introducing  straw- 
berries into  the  country  of  New  Granada. 


266  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

chona.  Extravagant  expectations  were  at  this 
time  entertained  concerning  trade  in  chinchona 
bark.  Some  persons  maintained  that  it  was  des- 
tined to  be  as  profitable  as  the  Dutch  had  found 
their  oriental  trade  in  spices. 

Before  the  arrival  of  the  royal  confirmation 
of  the  proposed  changes,  in  the  system  of  monop- 
olies, Viceroy  Guirior  was  transferred  to  Peru, 
and  Manuel  Antonio  Florez  (1776-1782)  had  be- 
come his  successor  in  New  Granada.  Florez 
retired  from  Bogota  early,  and,  residing  at 
Cartagena,  was  eclipsed  by  the  visitador-regente, 
Peneres,  whose  maladministration  provoked  the 
rebellion  of  the  comuneros.  The  accession  of 
Archbishop  Caballero  y  Gongora  to  the  post  of 
viceroy  in  June,  1782,  promised  a  more  enlightened 
rule  than  those  which  had  led  to  the  popular  re- 
volt. The  new  archbishop-viceroy  became  inter- 
ested in  the  missions  that  had  been  ruined  by  the 
expulsion  of  the  Jesuits,  particularly  those  in  the 
region  of  the  Orinoco  and  the  Amazon,  and  in  the 
work  of  the  boundary  commission.  He  supported 
the  system  of  schools  established  by  Moreno,  and 
furthered  the  plans  of  Mutis  for  an  organization 
that  would  promote  scientific  research;  founded 
a  chair  for  instruction  in  medical  science  in  the 
Colegio  del  Rosario;  and  contemplated  the  forma- 
tion of  a  public  clinic  and  means  for  caring  for 
the  poor. 

In  spite  of  his  quality  as  an  ecclesiastic  Cabal- 
lero  did  not   disapprove   of   the   plan   to   bring 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     267 

German  and  Swedish  miners  into  the  country 
although  they  were  Protestants;  for  this  project 
was  in  keeping  with  his  plan  to  have  the  mines 
of  the  kingdom  worked  on  a  larger  scale  and  in  a 
more  systematic  manner  than  heretofore.  A 
somewhat  similar  project  had  occupied  much  of 
Mutis'  attention  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  resi- 
dence in  America;  and  through  his  efforts  to  put 
mining  on  a  better  footing,  he  became  interested 
in  Jose  Ruiz,  who  went  to  Upsala  to  study  under 
Johan  Gottsckalk  Wallerius.  Later  in  a  letter  to 
Linnaeus,  written  from  the  mines  of  Ibague,  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1777,  Mutis  says,  ''Our  friend  Ruiz,  after 
a  long  journey,  which  has  occupied  him  for  three 
years,  is  now  safely  returned  to  America,  and  I 
have  passed  many  delightful  days  with  him  in 
hearing  all  he  could  tell  me  of  you  and  your  con- 
cerns, as  well  as  of  your  worthy  son. . . .  We  came 
together  from  Bogota,  a  few  days  since,  to  these 
mines  of  Ibague,  that  he  may  put  in  practice 
everything  he  had  further  acquired  in  this  science 
during  his  stay  in  the  Upper  Hartz. ' '" 

After  his  return  to  America,  Jose  Ruiz  had 
much  practical  experience  in  mining  enterprises, 
yet  the  proposed  mining  reform  was  entrusted  to 
Jose  d'Elhuyar,  who  had  had  extensive  oppor- 
tunities to  acquire  profound  knowledge  of  mining. 
He  was  born  in  Legrono.  At  Paris  he  had  studied 
mathematics,  physics,  chemistry,  and  natural  his- 
tory.   Then,  supported  by  a  grant  from  the  king, 

6  Smith,  J.  E.,  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus  and  other  Natural- 
ists.    London,  1821,  11,  526. 


268  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

lie  turned  his  attention  to  metallurgy;  studied 
three  years  at  Freiburg,  making  himself  familiar 
with  the  processes  of  smelting  the  various  metals ; 
visited  the  mines  of  Bohemia,  and  acquired  a 
knowledge  of  the  processes  employed  there;  went 
later  to  the  mines  of  Hungary,  Sweden,  and  Nor- 
way, always  with  the  object  of  learning  their 
practical  methods  and  processes.  By  his  studies 
and  his  observations  he  had  become  eminently 
fitted  for  directing  the  proposed  reform  in  min- 
ing. 

VI 

Another  striking  evidence  of  an  awakening 
scientific  interest  in  the  natural  resources  of 
America  was  the  organization  of  the  Botanical 
Expedition  of  1777.  This  was  to  have  its  prin- 
cipal station  at  Lima,  and  to  extend  its  activ- 
ity into  Ecuador  and  Chile.  This  enterprise 
prompted  Viceroy  Caballero  to  organize  re- 
searches in  botany  in  New  Granada.  Under 
the  name  of  an  expedition  he  created  a  bureau 
or  institute  for  botanical  research.  According 
to  his  Relacion  de  Mando,  he  was  moved  by 
the  announcement  of  the  coming  of  German 
explorers  and  the  humiliation  of  having  the  un- 
known natural  treasures  of  the  country  pointed 
out  to  the  inhabitants  by  strangers.  "I  provided 
for  the  formation  of  a  Botanical  Expedition,  com- 
posed of  a  director,  a  vice  director,  and  a  draughts- 
man. For  the  post  of  director,  I  chose  the  pres- 
byter Don  Jose  Celestino  Mutis,  a  subject  who 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     269 

for  more  than  twenty  years  had  traversed  a  great 
part  of  the  kingdom,  collecting  the  products  of 
nature,  and  known  by  his  literary  correspondence 
with  the  scientific  men  of  Europe."' 

This  action  of  the  viceroy  was  approved  and 
confirmed  by  the  king,  and  he  ordered  that  the 
necessary  funds  should  be  immediately  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  Mutis.  The  authorities  were 
spurred  to  unusual  activity  in  this  matter  by 
national  pride  prompting  the  wish  that  whatever 
foreigners  published  might  not  be  original  dis- 
coveries but  only  such  things  as  should  be  already 
known  in  America.  Mutis  was  appointed  royal 
botanist  and  astronomer  to  the  expedition  for  the 
northern  part  of  South  America,  and  two  thou- 
sand doubloons  were  awarded  to  him  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  completing  his  writings.  Besides  this 
he  was  given  an  annual  salary  of  two  thousand 
pesos.  And  under  the  king's  orders,  he  was  to  be 
furnished  with  all  the  botanical  and  astronomical 
books  and  instruments  that  might  be  needed  for 
the  execution  of  the  work  entrusted  to  him.  The 
second  officer  of  the  expedition  was  Elroy  de 
Valenzuela,  who  was  born  in  Giron,  and  had 
accompanied  Mutis  from  that  town  to  Bogota. 
Mutis  evidently  found  in  him  a  favorite  protege, 
for  on  one  occasion  he  wrote  to  him :  * '  Every  let- 
ter which  I  receive  from  you  is  as  precious  to  me 
as  were  my  letters  from  the  great  Linnaeus."^ 

T  Eelaciones  de  Mando  (Bibl.  de  Hist.  Naeional,  VIII),  253. 
8  Schumacher,  Hermann  A.,  Siidamerikanische  Studien,  Berlin, 
1884,  45. 


270  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

Mutis  was  empowered  to  select  the  place  where 
the  bureau,  or  the  headquarters  of  the  expedition, 
should  be  established,  and  he  chose  Mariquita,  a 
little  town  in  the  upper  valley  of  the  Magdalena 
river  near  Ibague.  Here  he  commanded  a  large 
staff  of  assistants.  Among  them  there  were 
artists  or  draughtsmen.  The  majority  of  the 
artists  came  and  went.  Two,  however,  were 
especially  noteworthy.  One  was  Pablo  Antonio 
Garcia,  whose  original  talent,  cultivated  at  Pam- 
plona, Bogota,  and  Ibague,  entitled  him  to  distinc- 
tion, and  who  was  appointed  draughtsman  of  the 
expedition.  The  other  was  a  boy  from  Guaduas, 
who  appeared  at  Mariquita,  and  who  developed 
rapidly  a  marvellous  talent  for  drawing  plants. 
This  was  Francisco  Javier  Matiz.  With  the 
opportunities  for  instruction  which  he  enjoyed  in 
association  with  Mutis  he  became  also  a  botanist. 


VII 

Mutis'  retirement  to  Mariquita  and  the  deter- 
mination of  the  viceroy  to  reside  near  the  coast 
made  subsequent  communication  between  them 
infrequent.  The  king  was  desirous  that  the 
Isthmus  of  Darien  should  be  protected  against  in- 
vasion, and  by  a  decree  of  August  15,  1783,  he 
made  it  the  special  duty  of  Caballero  to  see  that 
this  was  accomplished.  The  viceroy's  first  step 
in  responding  to  this  obligation  was  to  appoint 
Antonio  de  Arevalo  to  be  the  military  commander 


•^ 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  PG^piCS     271 

of  that  region.  Garrisons  were  established  at 
various  points  along  the  coast,  and  a  fleet  of  ves- 
sels was  gathered  at  Cartagena  to  carry  supplies 
to  these  posts. 

Arevalo  occupied  Caiman,  Mandinga,  and  Con- 
cepcion;  and  later,  Calidonia.  To  Calidonia  he 
gave  the  name  of  Carolina  del  Darien.  He  pro- 
ceeded to  bring  together  inhabitants  for  the  dis- 
trict, and  to  construct  forts  for  defense  against 
the  Indians.  The  British  government,  through 
the  governor  of  Jamaica,  ordered  that  no  assist- 
ance should  be  furnished  the  Indians.  This  ap- 
pears to  have  persuaded  them  of  the  hopelessness 
of  their  attempts  to  resist  the  Spaniards,  and  they 
sent  a  representative  to  Cartagena,  who  took  the 
oath  of  fidelity  before  the  archbishop-viceroy  in 
the  name  of  the  eight  tribes  for  whom  he  acted. 
But  this  oath  was  not  faithfully  observed,  and  the 
Indians  soon  traitorously  attacked  fort  Carolina. 
The  intervention  of  Henry  Hooper,  an  English- 
man, who  had  lived  many  years  in  the  region  and 
knew  the  language  of  the  Indians  contributed  to 
the  restoration  of  peace.  He  persuaded  the  In- 
dians to  send  a  delegation  to  Cartagena  to  agree 
on  terms  of  peace  with  the  viceroy.  Such  an 
agreement  was  formed  July  21,  1787.  By  the  pro- 
visions of  this  treaty  the  Indians  agreed  not  to 
trade  with  the  British,  to  carry  no  arms  but  axes 
and  machetes,  not  to  take  vengeance  for  griev- 
ances, but  to  refer  all  grievances  to  the  proper 
authorities.    In  this  way  the  hundred  years'  con- 


272  U^IN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

flict  with  the  barbarians  of  Darien  was  brought  to 
an  end  by  the  energy  and  prudence  of  the  viceroy, 
and  with  this  ceased  the  hostilities  that  had  been 
encouraged  by  the  British  and  the  Dutch. 

In  dealing  with  this  region,  the  viceroy  had 
his  attention  called  to  the  possibility  of  inter- 
ocean  communication,  and  he  informed  the  king 
that  through  Darien  communication  between  the 
oceans  by  water  might  be  effected  without  great 
difficulties.  This  had  reference  to  the  route  by 
the  Atrato  and  the  San  Juan  rivers.  More  than 
fifty  years  earlier  the  possibility  that  foreigners 
might  use  this  route  appears  to  have  been  called 
to  the  attention  of  the  Spanish  government.  A 
royal  decree  was  issued,  January  20,  1720,  that 
imposed  the  death  penalty  on  anyone  who  should 
navigate  these  rivers.® 

Absorbed  in  the  affairs  of  the  coast,  the  vice- 
roy gradually  ceased  to  be  interested  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  country.  He  no  longer  thought  of 
returning  to  Bogota,  and  fixed  his  residence  in 
Turbaco,  not  far  from  Cartagena.  The  need  of 
funds  to  meet  the  expenses  of  his  military  under- 
takings led  him  to  impose  a  succession  of  bur- 
densome taxes;  and  his  interest  in  the  botanical 
expedition,  at  first  supported  for  expected  scien- 
tific results,  was  now  limited  to  the  thought  that 
it  might  be  useful  in  exploiting  the  natural  re- 
sources of  the  country  for  the  Spanish  market. 

9  Schumacher,    Siidamerikanische    Studien,    50;    Plaza,    Nueva 
Granada,  401. 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     273 

VIII 

In  the  Relacion  handed  to  his  successor, 
Caballero  affirmed  that  in  two  years  there  had 
been  sent  to  Spain,  under  the  monopoly  21,271 
cases  of  quina  weighing  nearly  four  million  and 
a  half  of  pounds.  This  was  expected  to  produce 
for  the  royal  treasury  more  than  600,000  pesos. 
But  in  the  enthusiastic  viceroy 's  view,  ' '  The  prin- 
cipal ornament  and  glory  of  the  botanical  expedi- 
tion was  the  discovery  of  the  tea  of  Bogota,  a 
most  precious  plant  of  great  use  in  Asia  and 
Europe,  and  of  not  less  use  in  America,  and 
which  until  now  has  been  believed  to  be  the  exclu- 
sive product  of  China.  The  past  year,  1786,  the 
Director,  Don  Jose  Mutis,  gave  me  the  first  notice 
of  it,  and  I  sent  to  the  court  the  samples  which  he 
handed  to  me,  in  order  that  they  might  be  exam- 
ined anew;  and  in  fact,  from  the  careful  and 
repeated  chemical  examinations  that  were  made, 
it  proved  to  be  not  only  really  tea,  but  also  more 
aromatic  and  of  superior  quality  to  tea  of  Asia. '  '^^ 

The  prospect  of  an  advantageous  foreign  trade 
in  the  tea  of  Bogota,  particularly  with  the  Eng- 
lish, loomed  above  the  viceroy's  horizon,  when  he 
considered  the  difficulty  in  getting  it  from  China. 
"We  have  it  in  the  valley  of  Bogota,  near  the  city 
in  great  abundance,"  he  continued,  "and  its  cul- 
tivation may  be  increased  to  any  extent ;  and  with 
the  exception  of  a  short  journey  by  land  to  Honda, 

'i-o Belaciones  de  Mando   {Bill,  de  Hist.  Nacional,  VIII),  254. 


274  SPAIN'S   DECLINING    POWER 

it  may  be  carried  by  the  Magdalena  river  to  Car- 
tagena, and  from  there  to  Spain,  an  infinitely 
shorter  and  more  secure  journey  than  that  from 
the  East  Indies.  The  government  is  able  to  give 
it  all  the  protection  that  may  be  needed  from  its 
planting  to  its  sale  in  the  foreign  country;  and 
finally  the  tea  of  Bogota,  may  be  the  most  im- 
portant product  for  exportation  from  the  king- 
dom. "^^ 

With  a  similar  practical  end  in  view,  the  vice- 
roy supported  the  movement  to  put  the  mining 
industry  on  a  better  basis.  Engineers  and  miners 
were  brought  from  Europe  and  an  organization 
for  the  administration  of  the  mines  was  formed. 
This  embraced  a  director  of  mines,  a  fiscal,  and 
a  large  number  of  mining  officials  and  practical 
miners.  The  general  direction  of  the  whole  sys- 
tem devolved,  as  already  suggested,  upon  Juan 
Jose  d'Elhuyar,  who  became  intimately  associated 
with  Mutis;  and  the  region  about  Mariquita  be- 
came the  seat  of  initial  operations. 


The  new  viceroy,  Francisco  Gil  y  Lemus, 
appeared  in  New  Granada  commissioned  to  hold 
the  residencia  of  Caballero,  and  then  to  proceed 
to  Peru.  But  during  the  period  of  his  residence, 
from  January  8,  to  July  30,  1789,  he  displayed 
great  activity.     He  visited  Santana,  the  seat  of 

^"^  Eelaciones  de  Mando  (Bibl.  de  Hist.  Nacional,  VIII),  255. 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     275 

D'Elhuyar's  mining  operations,  where  he  found 
the  German  miners  suffering  from  ill  effects  of 
the  tropical  climate,  and  where  they  were  the 
object  of  popular  opposition  for  their  Protestant 
faith.  At  Mariquita  he  found  that  the  years  of 
work  by  Mutis  and  his  staff  of  assistants  had  had 
almost  exclusively  a  scientific  purpose,  and  had 
contributed  little  to  the  practical  economic  results, 
which  the  kingdom's  finances,  with  the  indebted- 
ness of  two  million  pesos,  seemed  to  demand. 

After  the  short  administration  of  Viceroy  Gil 
y  Lemus,  Jose  de  Espeleta  succeeded  him  at  the 
end  of  July,  1789.  Espeleta  had  been  captain- 
general  of  Cuba  for  more  than  three  years  (De- 
cember 28,  1785,  to  April  18,  1789)  and  was  thus 
not  without  experience  in  the  affairs  of  America. 
Early  in  his  reign,  in  1791,  the  bureau  of  the 
Botanical  Expedition  was  transferred  to  Bogota, 
thirty  years  after  Mutis  had  entered  that  city. 
In  these  years  Bogota  had  undergone  a  great 
change.  It  was  becoming  the  fashion  for  men  of 
cultivation  to  turn  to  new  things.  Societies,  asso- 
ciations, and  clubs  were  formed  for  discussions, 
from  which  not  even  political  questions  were 
excluded.  Many  persons  had  found  the  plain 
and  simple  manner  of  living  unsatisfactory,  and 
articles  of  luxury  had  begun  to  find  a  way  into 
the  country  from  France.  The  Creoles  had  ex- 
perienced an  intellectual  awakening,  and  had 
become  conscious  of  their  importance  in  the  com- 
munity.    Manual   Socorro   Rodriguez,   the   chief 


276  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

official  of  the  Library  of  Bogota  began  with  this 
year,  the  publication  of  a  periodical  devoted  to 
literature  and  philosophy.  Much  attention  began 
to  be  given  to  geographical  studies,  and  studies 
in  the  natural  sciences  were  introduced  into  the 
Colegio  del  Rosario.  This  movement  derived  its 
origin  and  principal  impulse  from  men  of  a  gen- 
eration younger  than  that  of  Mutis,  some  of  whom 
were  his  pupils  and  assistants,  who  had  come 
with  him  to  Bogota  from  Mariquita,  or  who  were 
his  collaborators  on  the  Flora  Bogotana. 

The  edifice  prepared  for  the  bureau  on  its 
transfer  from  Mariquita  to  Bogota,  became  known 
as  the  Botanical  House.  It  furnished  abundant 
room  for  Mutis'  herbariums  and  the  various  col- 
lections that  had  been  made  in  other  departments 
in  previous  years,  as  well  as  working  space  for 
the  enlarged  staff.  The  number  of  Creoles  among 
the  assistants,  in  relation  to  the  Europeans,  was 
increasing.  This  was  particularly  true  of  the 
draughtsmen  and  the  painters.  In  connection 
with  the  bureau  there  was  established  a  school  of 
drawing  and  painting,  conducted  by  Salvador 
Rizo,  who  for  three  years  had  been  the  accountant, 
or  business  manager  of  the  expedition.  By  the 
work  of  pupils  of  this  school  a  new  rate  of  prog- 
ress was  had  in  the  preparation  of  drawings  and 
paintings  for  the  proposed  Flora  Bogotana. 

The  intellectual  awakening  in  New  Granada 
that  marked  the  years  of  Mutis'  activity  was  not 
due  entirely  to  the  progress   of   studies   in  the 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     277 

realm  of  nature.  The  events  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution became  gradually  known,  and  provided  sub- 
jects for  discussion  among  the  members  of  the 
new  generation.  But  the  director  of  the  expedi- 
tion was  of  another  generation.  Science  still 
claimed  Mutis'  undivided  attention.  Although 
his  later  years  were  spent  in  the  capital,  he  had 
little  part  in  its  conspicuous  society.  In  spite  of 
the  publications  directed  against  him  in  Spain  by 
Sebastian  Jose  Lopez,  the  opinion  of  the  Span- 
iards concerning  him  remained  that  to  which 
Linnaeus  had  given  expression." 


The  botanical  expedition  to  Peru  was  more 
properly  called  an   expedition   than   that  which 

12  Jo86  Celestino  Mutis  was  born  in  Cadiz  in  1732,  and  died  in 
Bogota  September  2,  1808.  Some  of  the  results  of  his  investiga- 
tions were  published  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Swedish  Academy 
of  Sciences.  A  part  of  his  correspondence  with  Linnaeus  is 
included  in  Smith's  "Selection  of  the  correspondence  of  Linnaeus 
with  other  Naturalists,"  London,  1821.  A  collection  of  papero 
entitled  El  arcano  de  la  Quina  with  portrait,  was  published  in 
Madrid  in  1828.  The  material  prepared  for  the  Flora  de  Santa 
Fe  de  Bogota,  was  deposited  in  the  archives  of  the  Botanical 
Garden  at  Madrid.  This  consisted  of  a  large  number  of  manu- 
scripts, an  extensive  herbarium,  and  6849  drawings  of  plants. 
Some  of  his  monographs  were  Memoria  de  las  palmas  del  Nuevo 
Eeino  de  Granada  (incomplete),  Memoria  sabre  el  Caryocar 
amygdaliferum,  printed  in  Cavanilles'  Icones,  and  Observaciones 
sobre  la  vigilia  y  sueno  de  algunus  plantas,  in  Botanical  Garden 
of  Madrid.  An  elaborate  account  of  Mutis  is  found  in  Gredilla, 
A.  Federico,  Biografia  de  Jose  Celestino  Mutis  con  la  relacidn  de 
su  viaje  y  estudios  practicados  en  el  Nuevo  Eeino  de  Granada, 
Madrid,  1911. 


278  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

appeared  in  New  Granada.  It  was  directed  by 
Hipolito  Euiz  and  Jose  Pavon,  who  went  from 
Spain  and  returned  to  Spain  after  they  had  fin- 
ished their  survey  and  made  their  collections. 
This  expedition  left  Cadiz  November  4,  1777,  and 
arrived  at  Callao  April  8,  1778,  It  embraced, 
besides  the  directors,  Joseph  Dombey,  ''Galliarum 
Regis  Medico,  et  Botanico  egregio,"  and  two 
draughtsmen,  Joseph  Brunete  and  Isidore  do 
Galvez. 

In  the  preface  to  their  Flora  the  directors  give 
a  general  sketch  of  their  survey,  noting  the  regions 
explored,  and  giving  some  account  of  the  material 
results  of  their  researches.  They  first  examined 
the  country  immediately  about  Lima,  and  sent  to 
Spain,  by  the  ship  Buen  Consejo,  a  large  number 
of  dried  plants  and  two  hundred  and  forty-two 
colored  dramngs.  Their  second  field  of  investi- 
gation was  the  region  about  Tarma  and  Jauja, 
whence  they  passed  to  Huanuco,  where  they  dis- 
covered seven  species  of  Cascarillos.  After  their 
return  to  Lima,  they  went  a  little  later  to  the 
province  of  Chancay,  leaving  Dombey  at  Lima. 

Chile,  as  well  as  Peru,  was  a  part  of  the  field 
assigned  to  Ruiz  and  Pavon,  as  the  directors  of 
the  Peruvian  expedition.  The  descriptions  of 
Chile  by  Feuvillee  and  Frazier  facilitated  the 
exploration  of  that  country.  The  members  of  the 
expedition  went  to  Chile  by  sea,  and  landed  at 
Talcahuana.  They  surveyed  the  regions  near 
Concepcion,  Itata,  Rene,  and  Arauco;  and  also 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     279 

the  provinces  of  Puchocay,  Maule,  San  Fernando, 
Rancagua,  Santiago,  and  Quillota  and  some  part 
of  the  region  of  the  Andes.  A  shipment  of  fifty- 
two  cases  of  the  collections  which  they  had  made 
in  two  years  was  lost  in  the  wreck  of  the  San 
Pedro  de  Alcantara,  that  ran  on  the  rocks  at 
Peniche  in  Portugal,  on  the  2nd  of  February, 
1786.  In  order  to  repair  this  loss,  the  investiga- 
tors returned  to  Huanuco,  and  revisited  various 
parts  of  that  province;  they  advanced  as  far  as 
the  Huancabamba  river,  which  was  then  the 
boundary  between  the  lands  of  the  settled  inhab- 
itants and  the  territory  of  Indians  still  in  their 
wild  state.  At  the  estate  of  Macora  they  spent 
two  months,  and  here  two  persons,  Juan  Tafalla 
and  Francisco  Pulgar,  became  attached  to  the 
expedition  in  the  capacity  of  student  assistants, 
the  former  as  a  botanist  and  the  latter  as  a 
draughtsman. 

Before  the  loss  of  the  shipment  on  the  San 
Pedro  de  Alacdntara  the  expedition  encountered 
a  disaster,  on  the  6th  of  August,  1786,  in  the  burn- 
ing of  the  descriptions  of  plants,  animals,  and 
minerals  made  in  Chile,  and  of  the  topographical 
accounts  of  the  provinces  of  that  kingdom  and 
of  Peru.  At  the  same  time  there  were  burned 
large  numbers  of  plants,  birds,  quadrupeds,  and 
insects,  together  with  equipment  and  supplies  for 
three  months.  The  expedition  returned  once  more 
to  Huanuco,  and  after  this  undertaking  sent  from 
Callao  to  Spain  by  the  frigates  El  Pilar  and  El 
Brillante,  seventy-three  cases  of  natural  products, 


280  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

eighteen  pots  of  living  plants,  and  five  hundred 
and  eighty- six  drawings. 

The  draughtsman  Joseph  Brunete  died  in 
Pasco  in  1787,  whither  he  had  gone  to  receive  the 
salaries  of  the  expedition's  personnel.  The  other 
members  having  returned  to  Lima,  took  leave  of 
their  pupils,  Tafalla,  who  later  became  professor 
of  Botany  at  Lima,  and  Pulgar,  and  embarked 
in  the  ship  El  Dragon  on  the  first  of  April,'  1788. 
They  took  with  them  their  manuscripts,  twenty- 
nine  cases  of  natural  products  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty-four  living  plants.  After  a  voyage  of 
somewhat  more  than  five  months,  they  landed  at 
Cadiz,  on  the  12th  of  September. 

In  the  preface  to  their  work.  Florae  Peruvi- 
anae,  et  Chilencis  Prodromus,  XV,  Ruiz  and  Pavon 
enumerated  the  toils  they  had  endured  and  the 
dangers  they  had  passed  during  the  eleven  years 
of  their  sojourn  and  wanderings  in  America. 
They  had  suffered,  to  quote  their  account,  "heat, 
weariness,  hunger,  thirst,  nakedness,  wants  of 
every  kind,  tempests,  earthquakes,  plagues  of 
mosquitos  and  other  insects,  continual  risks  of 
being  devoured  by  tigers,  bears  and  other  wild 
beasts,  ambush  by  thieves  and  savage  Indians, 
treachery  of  slaves,  accidents  from  precipices, 
from  the  falling  of  the  branches  of  the  lofty  trees 
of  the  forests,  and  from  the  passing  of  rivers  and 
torrents,  the  burning  of  Macora,  the  shipwreck  of 
the  San  Pedro  de  Alcantara,  the  separation  from 
M.  Dombey,  the  death  of  the  draughtsman 
Brunete,  and  the  loss  of  manuscrips." 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     281 

These  two  undertakings  present  certain  points 
of  contrast.  The  expedition  to  Peru  was  organ- 
ized in  Spain;  the  members  were  appointed  in 
Spain;  and  it  proceeded  to  Peru  to  work  with  a 
large  measure  of  independence  for  the  attainment 
of  its  specific  purpose.  The  expedition,  as  it 
appeared  in  New  Granada,  had  to  a  large  extent 
the  character  of  a  domestic  institution,  in  the 
organization  of  which  the  viceroy  was  especially 
active.  The  director  although  bom  in  Spain,  had 
already  at  the  time  of  his  appointment,  spent 
many  years  in  scientific  researches  in  America. 
The  expedition  in  New  Granada  had  also  a  much 
more  powerful  influence  than  that  of  Peru  in 
educating  youth  and  in  promoting  intellectual 
activity,  particularly  among  the  Creoles. 

The  period  of  Mutis'  effective  work  closed 
with  the  visit  of  Humboldt  in  1801 ;  after  this  event 
Francisco  Caldas  became  the  leader  of  scientific 
inquiry  in  New  Granada." 

13  The  awakening  interest  in  the  scientific  study  of  nature  in 
all  the  Spanish  Colonies  was  observed  by  Humboldt,  and  he  affirms 
that  "no  European  government  has  spent  more  considerable  sums 
to  increase  knowledge  of  plants  than  the  Spanish  government." 
"All  the  researches  made  during  twenty  years  in  the  most  fertile 
regions  of  the  new  continent  have  not  only  enriched  the  domain 
of  science  with  more  than  four  thousand  new  species,  but  they 
have  also  contributed  much  to  spread  the  taste  for  natural  history 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  country. ' ' — Essai  politique  sur  le 
royaume  de  la  Nouvelle  Espagne,  Paris,  1811,  1,  120. 

On  Caldas  and  his  work,  see  Memoria  historica  sobre  la  vida, 
cardcter,  trabajos  cientificos  y  literarios  y  servicios  patrioticos  de 
Francisco  Jose  de  Caldas,  in  La  Siesta,  Bogota,  1852 ;  also  Vergara 
y  Vergara,  Historia  de  la  Uteratura  en  Nueva  Granada,  Bogota, 
1905,  cap.  XIV;  Groot,  cap.  XLI;  Schumacher,  SiidameriJcanische 
Studien,  Berlin,  1884. 


282  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 


XI 

Other  evidence  of  the  intellectual  awakening  in 
Spanish  South  America  is  found  in  the  new  inter- 
est manifested  by  the  Creoles  in  questions  of  gov- 
ernment. The  transformation  of  the  British 
colonies  into  the  United  States  of  America  and  the 
social  explosion  of  France  in  the  French  Eevo- 
lution  filled  the  atmosphere  of  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica with  a  storm  of  new  political  ideas  that  swept 
over  the  barrier  of  Spain's  protective  system. 
Many  Spanish  traditions  were  thrown  down,  and 
the  loyalty  of  the  colonists,  particularly  the  loy- 
alty of  the  Creoles,  was  everywhere  thoroughly 
shaken.  The  effects  were  observed  in  all  of  the 
dependencies,  but  most  distinctly  in  New  Granada, 
where  they  were  conspicuously  illustrated  by  the 
career  of  Antonio  Narino.  In  the  last  decade  of 
the  century  Nariiio  voiced  the  protest  of  an 
awakening  people  against  Spain's  unreasonable 
rule.  He  belonged  to  the  same  generation  as  the 
younger  scientists  who  had  grown  up  under  the 
influence  of  Mutis '  investigations,  but  his  thought 
was  directed  chiefly  to  the  realm  of  social  affairs. 
He  was  born  at  Bogota  in  1760."  He  studied  at 
the  Colegio  de  San  Bartolome;  and  at  the  time  of 
the  reception  of  Gil  y  Lemus  as  viceroy  of  New 
Granada  he  was  alcalde  of  his  native  city.    Among 

1*  El  Precursor :  Documentos  sohre  la  vida  puhlica  y  privada  del 
General  Antonio  Narino,  Bogota,  1803  (Bibl.  de  hist,  nacional, 
II).  2. 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     283 

his  contemporaries  he  passed  for  a  man  of  learn- 
^jjg  15  ijijjg  viceroy  maintained  especially  friendly 
relations  with  him,  and  appointed  him  treasurer 
of  the  tithes.  The  canons  of  the  ecclesiastical 
cabildo  opposed  this  appointment  on  the  ground 
that  they  alone  had  the  right  to  appoint  to  this 
office.  They  appealed  to  the  king  who  supported 
their  contention.  When  their  power  had  thus 
been  recognized,  they  exercised  it  in  appointing 
Nariiio,  who  had  been  appointed  by  the  viceroy.^*' 
Among  his  other  enterprises,  Narino  had 
acquired  a  printing  press.  Having  received  a 
copy  of  a  history  of  the  constituent  assembly  of 
France  from  Captain  Ramirez,  an  officer  of  the 
viceroy's  guard,  he  copied  Les  Droits  de  l' Homme 
from  it.  He  translated  this  document  into  Span- 
ish and  printed  it  on  his  press  in  the  beginning  of 
1794.  He  at  first  held  the  copies  in  reserve,  but 
a  few  of  them  were  distributed  among  Narino 's 
friends.  One  of  these  was  discovered  by  a  Span- 
iard, Francisco  Carrasco,  through  whom  knowl- 
edge of  it  became  public,  and  by  whom  Narino 
was  denounced  to  the  viceroy.  The  viceroy  was 
at  Guaduas  when  he  learned  of  this  publication. 
On  his  arrival  in  Bogota  he  commissioned  Joaquin 
Mosquera  to  institute  proceedings  against  Narino. 

15  One  of  the  most  enlightening'  documents  of  the  collection 
called  El  Precursor  (164-191),  is  the  list  of  books  contained  in 
Narino 's  library,  and  confiscated  with  the  rest  of  his  property  by 
the  government. 

16  Documents  relating  to  this  controversy  are  printed  in  El 
Precursor,  3-15. 


284  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

At  the  same  time  he  authorized  Juan  Fernandez 
de  Alva  to  prosecute  a  number  of  persons  charged 
with  conspiracy;  and  Joaquin  Inclan  to  bring 
to  trial  certain  persons  for  issuing  pasquinades 
against  the  government.  By  the  trials  for  sedi- 
tion and  issuing  the  pasquinades  a  number  of  the 
accused  were  sentenced  to  imprisonment,  and 
later  were  sent  to  Spain.  When  Narino  was 
brought  to  trial,  he  affirmed  that  no  other  person 
had  had  any  part  in  the  publication  of  the  docu- 
ment in  question ;  and  he  excused  his  act  by  saying 
that  he  had  not  published  it  to  provoke  a  revolu- 
tion against  the  government,  but  merely  as  an 
economic  speculation.  When  asked  to  deliver  the 
copies,  he  replied  that  as  soon  as  he  learned  that 
the  subject  was  to  be  investigated  he  had  burned 
them.  The  destruction  of  them  appears  to  have 
been  complete. 

The  defense  presented  by  Narino  and  his 
attorney  Ricuarte  maintained  that  publishing  The 
Rights  of  Man  was  not  a  crime;  that  it  was  not 
pernicious,  since  the  same  principles  were  current, 
having  been  already  printed  in  Spanish  books, 
and  consequently  its  further  circulation  should 
not  be  regarded  as  criminal;  and  that  viewed  in 
the  light  of  reason  and  giving  to  the  document 
its  proper  meaning,  it  could  not  be  considered  as 
prejudicial  to  the  public  interest.^^ 

1'?  The  document  containing  the  defense  offered  by  Narino  in 
the  case  brought  against  him  for  publishing  Los  Derechos  de 
Hombre  and  for  other  alleged  offenses  is  found  in  El  Precursor, 
51-110. 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     285 

The  evidence  presented  by  Narino  was  not 
accepted  as  exculpating  him,  and  he  was  sentenced 
to  imprisonment  in  Africa  for  a  period  of  ten 
years.  He  was  sent  to  Spain  with  a  number  of 
other  persons  who  had  been  convicted  on  charges 
relating  to  conspiracy  and  the  issuing  of  pas- 
quinades. On  arriving  at  Cadiz,  Narino  took 
advantage  of  the  confusion  at  the  port,  escaped, 
and  went  to  Madrid.  The  other  persons  whose 
cases  were  referred  to  the  Council  of  the  Indies, 
and  who  were  conducted  to  Madrid,  were  Louis 
Rieux,  Manuel  Froes,  Jose  Ayala,  Sinf  oroso  Mutis, 
Francisco  Zea,  Ignacio  Sandino,  Pedro  Pradilla, 
Bernardo  Cifuentes,  Jose  Maria  Cabal,  and 
Enrique  Umana.  Besides  the  ten  persons  sent  by 
the  audiencia  under  grave  charges,  five  others 
were  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Council  of 
the  Indies  as  minor  offenders.  The  decision  of 
the  Council  respecting  all  of  these  was  that  they 
should  be  set  free  and  placed  in  full  possession 
of  all  their  rights,  and  be  permitted  to  continue 
their  studies  and  professions  as  if  no  proceedings 
against  them  had  been  taken.  Their  property, 
which  had  been  confiscated,  should  be  restored  to 
them  without  cost ;  and  those  having  a  legal  domi- 
cile in  New  Granada  should  be  returned  to  Bogota, 
or  to  the  towns  of  their  previous  residence.  Rieux 
having  no  legal  residence  in  that  dependency, 
might  not  return  to  it  without  permission  granted 
by  the  king,  who,  however,  found  it  just  that  Rieux 
should  be  allowed  to  return  and  recover  his  prop- 


286  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

erty.  Twelve  of  these  persons  were  young  men 
under  thirty  years  of  age.  Of  the  others,  the 
Frenchman  Rieux  was  the  oldest,  forty-four,  while 
Ayala  and  Cifuentes  were  thirty-three  and  thirty- 
four  respectively.  Narino  was  thirty-four,  and 
thus  the  whole  group  was  composed  of  men  who 
were  about  to  assume,  or  who  had  already  assumed 
recently,  the  duties  and  the  obligation  of  the  new 
generation.^® 

XII 

From  Madrid  Narino  fled  to  France,  where  he 
remained  until  he  considered  himself  in  danger. 
At  Paris  he  fell  in  with  Jose  Caro,  a  Cuban,  who 
was  urging  the  French  revolutionary  government 
to  support  an  insurrection  that  he  had  projected 
in  Peru.  At  Paris  he  also  interviewed  Tallien, 
and  presented  to  him  a  project  for  bringing  about 
a  revolt  in  New  Granada,  and  for  transforming 
the  viceroyalty  into  a  republic.  To  this  propo- 
sition Tallien  replied  that  although  he  could  not 
support  the  project  publicly,  because  of  the  peace 
existing  between  France  and  Spain,  in  secret  he 
would  furnish  such  assistance  as  might  be  pos- 
sible, so  arranging  affairs  that  the  Spaniards 
would  not  send  a  fleet  of  sufficient  force  to  prevent 
the  contemplated  movement.  At  the  same  time  he 
affirmed  that  in  England  more  effective  action 
might  be  taken.^^ 

18  This  decision  is  printed  in  El  Percursor,  121-143. 

19  EZ  Percursor,  217. 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     287 

Encouraged  by  this  statement,  Narino  went  to 
London,  where  he  endeavored  to  form  a  plan  to 
promote  an  insurrection  in  New  Granada,  and  to 
make  an  agreement  under  which  Great  Britain 
would  furnish  arms,  munitions,  and  a  squadron 
that  would  attack  Cartagena  and  by  making  use 
of  the  Orinoco  take  advantage  of  the  resources 
of  the  interior  of  the  country.  Nariiio's  note  to 
Pitt  on  this  subject  remained  unanswered;  he, 
however,  obtained  an  interview  with  Lord  Liver- 
pool. From  London  Nariiio  returned  to  Paris. 
Then  he  went  to  St.  Bartholomew  by  way  of  Bor- 
deaux. Afterwards  he  passed  over  to  St.  Thomas, 
and  later  to  Curazao.  From  the  islands  he  went 
to  New  Granada,  and  proceeded  to  the  capital  in 
disguise.-" 

Espeleta's  administration  ended  January  2, 
1797,  and  on  the  same  day  his  successor,  Pedro 
Mendinueta  (1797-1803),  assumed  the  duties  of 
the  viceregal  office.  Complete  tranquility  pre- 
vailed at  this  time  throughout  the  country ;  but  the 
report  that  Narino  had  escaped  and  had  returned 
to  New  Granada  caused  a  certain  popular  agita- 
tion. This  news  was  satisfactory  to  the  radicals, 
but  it  alarmed  the  conservatives. 

In  his  Relacion  to  his  successor,  Mendinueta 
affirmed  that  ''one  of  the  greatest  tasks  of  the 
government  was  that  of  maintaining  good  order 
in  internal  affairs,  public  peace,  and  submission 
to  the  magistrates,  a  task  which  in  more  fortunate 

20  El  Precursor,  Preface. 


288  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

times  cost  little  anxiety.  Communication  with 
foreigners  by  means  of  contraband ;  the  introduc- 
tion of  books  and  public  papers  prohibited  as 
23rejudicial  to  religion  and  the  state;  certain  flat- 
tering maxims  imperfectly  understood;  a  philo- 
sophical fanaticism,  and  more  than  all  a  spirit 
demanding  always  something  new,  succeeded  in 
turning  some  few  heads  and  making  them  adopt 
various  notions  which  they  announce  as  their  own 
ideas.  In  these  circumstances  is  found  the  origin 
of  the  changes  and  the  radical  doctrines  manifest 
in  the  capital  in  1794."" 

Narifio  was,  in  fact,  already  in  Bogota,  under 
the  protection  of  the  archbishop,  by  whom  ad- 
vances in  his  behalf  were  made  to  the  viceroy. 
On  the  30th  of  July,  1797,  Nariiio  addressed  a 
communication  to  Mendinueta,  giving  an  account 
of  his  sojourn  in  France  and  England,  and  of  his 
interviews  with  Lord  Liverpool,  with  whom  he 
had  discussed  the  question  of  subjecting  his  coun- 
try to  foreign  domination,  and  the  proposition 
that  England  should  offer  assistance  with  arms, 
munitions,  and  a  squadron  that  would  cruise  off 
New  Granada  and  prevent  the  entrance  of  succor 
from  Spain.  It  was  agreed  that,  in  consideration 
of  this  assistance,  certain  advantages  respecting 
commerce  with  New  Granada  would  be  accorded 
to  the  British.    This  document  closed  with  the  f ol- 

2'i^  Relacianes  re  Mando  (Bibl.  de  hist.  NacioiKil,  III),  584. 
"La  capital  del  virreinato  era  un  foeo  de  ardoroso  patriotismo, 
unido  al  deseo  mas  violento  de  aprender  y  de  estudiar  todas  las 
ciencias. ' ' — Buletin  de  historic  y  antiguedades,  II,  676. 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     289 

lowing  remarkable  profession  of  conversion  by 
Nariiio : 

"I  hope  that,  reestablished  in  the  sovereign  con- 
fidence of  the  king  by  your  Excellency,  I  shall  be  able 
to  employ  the  rest  of  my  days  in  repairing  the  past  and 
giving  authentic  and  unequivocal  proof  of  my  repent- 
ance, occupying  all  the  moments  of  my  life  in  the  service 
of  both  their  Majesties.  And  if  resentment  led  me  to  the 
borders  of  the  precipice,  I  assure  your  Excellency  that 
from  today  onward  my  obligation  and  the  recognition 
of  his  great  goodness  will  lead  me  even  to  shedding  the 
last  drop  of  my  blood  in  the  service  of  the  king,  at  whose 
royal  feet,  humbly  prostrated  and  with  the  most  pro- 
found respect,  I  implore  his  sovereign  piety,  in  order 
that  in  his  personal  goodness  he  may  deign  not  only  to 
grant  me  pardon  for  my  past  errors,  but  that,  restoring 
me  to  his  royal  confidence,  which  is  what  my  heart 
earnestly  desires,  I  may  remain  in  such  a  state  that  by 
ray  works  I  may  be  able  to  give  evidence  of  my  repent- 
ance and  of  being  able  to  come  to  the  support  of  my 
disgraced  country. ' ' 

On  the  4th  of  August,  1797,  the  viceroy  asked 
for  an  elucidation  of  certain  passages  of  this  com- 
munication, concluding  with  the  statement  that  if 
in  good  faith  Narino  wished  to  render  this  service 
to  the  sovereign,  in  accordance  with  his  protesta- 
tions, he  could  not  do  less  than  to  reply  categori- 
cally to  the  government.^^ 

In  responding  to  this  request  Narino  made  an 
elaborate  and  detailed  comment  on  his  narrative, 
and  on  the  11th  of  September,  1797,  Mendinueta 
granted  him  amnesty,  and  sent  a  report  of  this 

22  El  Precursor,  238-246. 


290  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

action  to  the  king  for  confirmation.  The  king, 
however,  ordered  that  Narino  should  not  be  lib- 
erated until  after  the  conclusion  of  peace. 

It  is  not  probable  that  any  concession  by  the 
king  at  this  time  would  have  prevented  Narino 
from  ultimately  becoming  a  factor  in  the  struggle 
for  independence;  but  by  accepting  his  promised 
loyalty,  the  most  forceful  early  advocate  of 
emancipation  would  have  been  withheld  from  the 
movement,  at  least  in  its  preliminary  stages. 

During  the  period  of  these  events  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  had  become  more 
thoroughly  organized,  and  the  officers  and  people 
of  New  Granada  were  receiving  abundant  infor- 
mation of  the  hopeful  prospects  of  the  young 
republic.  From  France,  moreover,  came  reports 
of  the  overthrow  of  feudalism  and  absolute  govern- 
ment and  the  abolition  of  political  privileges ;  the 
announcement  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people; 
that  the  essential  basis  of  government  was  equal- 
ity before  the  law,  the  liberty  of  the  individual, 
freedom  of  conscience,  of  speech,  and  of  the  press ; 
the  right  of  all  citizens  to  be  elected  or  appointed 
to  public  office;  the  just  distribution  of  the  bur- 
dens of  taxation;  the  responsibility  of  public 
officials;  and  the  security  and  inviolability  of 
property.  It  was  not  merely  the  doctrines  of  lib- 
erty that  reached  the  governors  and  the  people 
of  the  dependencies.  They  learned  of  the  spread 
of  these  doctrines  in  Europe,  the  transformation 
of  governments,  and  the  rise  of  new  republics,  in 


INTEREST  IN  SCIENCE  AND  POLITICS     291 

France,  in  the  Netherlands,  in  Italy,  and  the 
popular  revolt  of  the  Poles  against  their  oppres- 
sors. The  forces  that  caused  the  disappearance 
of  colonial  isolation  and  ignorance  overturned  the 
cornerstone  of  Spanish  rule.  In  New  Granada 
the  rest  of  the  foundation  was  wrecked  by  the 
indolence,  the  corruption,  the  political  blindness, 
and  stupidity  of  Viceroy  Antonio  Amar  y  Borbon, 
who  succeeded  Mendinueta  in  1803. 


CHAPTER  XI 

LIMA  AND  SANTIAGO  AT  THE  END  OF  THE 
CENTURY 

I.  The  position  and  external  form  of  Lima.  II.  The 
earthquake  of  1746.  III.  The  court  of  the  viceroy 
and  the  institutions  of  Lima.  IV.  Social  char- 
acteristics. V.  Santiago  de  Chile.   VI.  The  classes. 


The  city  of  Lima  presented  the  most  advanced 
phase  of  social  development  in  Spanish  South 
America  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It 
was  the  residence  of  the  highest  officers  of  the 
government  and  of  the  most  important  dignitaries 
of  the  church.  Here  resided,  moreover,  a  consid- 
erable body  of  titled  nobles,  and  here  the  differ- 
entiation of  the  social  classes  was  carried  to  the 
extreme,  giving  to  the  city  many  of  the  features 
of  an  Old-World  capital. 

In  Mexico  the  Spaniards  had  established  their 
capital  at  the  center  of  the  dominant  Indian  com- 
munity. To  have  followed  this  example  in  Peru 
would  have  placed  the  new  city  at  an  inconvenient 
elevation,  and  in  a  position  difficult  of  access  from 
the  sea.    In  Mexico  the  Spaniards  wished  to  live 


LIMA  AND  SANTIAGO  293 

away  from  the  unsanitary  coast.  In  Peru  the 
valley  of  the  Rimac  near  the  coast  offered  an 
agreeable  and  healthful  climate  and  an  abundance 
of  pure  water  for  the  use  of  a  city  and  for  irri- 
gation in  a  rainless  region.  The  population  of 
Lima  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
was  57,250.  It  had  increased  to  60,000  in  1746. 
The  earthquake  of  that  year  caused  a  loss  of  be- 
tween 6000  and  8000  persons;  and,  therefore,  in 
1755  the  number  of  the  inhabitants  was  only 
54,000.  In  1781  the  number  had  again  reached 
60,000,  and  during  the  next  nine  years  there  was 
a  loss  of  7373.  It  may  be  presumed  that  by  the 
end  of  the  century  there  was  a  certain  increase 
over  the  52,627  given  as  the  population  in  1790, 
but  the  amount  of  this  increase  has  not  been 
accurately  determined.^ 

When  Tadeo  Haenke  wrote  his  description  of 
Lima,  the  city  was  still  surrounded  by  walls. 
These  walls  were  between  eighteen  and  twenty - 
five  feet  high,  without  moat  or  outworks.  They 
enclosed  an  area  that  was  about  a  mile  in  extent 
from  north  to  south,  and  about  the  same  extent 
from  east  to  west.  It  was  divided  into  two  parts 
by  the  river  Rimac.  Communication  between 
these  two  parts  passed  over  the  stone  bridge  built 
during  the  administration  of  Montesclaros.  At 
first  there  was  a  wooden  bridge,  and  later  the 
Marquis  of  Canete,  while  viceroy,  caused  a  bridge 

^  Mer curio  Perimno,  February  3,  1791   (I,  97);  Present  State 
of  Peru,  139-141. 


294  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

to  be  constructed  of  brick  near  the  site  of  the 
present  stone  bridge.  This  was  subsequently  de- 
stroyed by  the  force  of  the  water.  Then,  several 
years  after  its  destruction,  the  present  structure 
was  begun,  in  1608,  and  two  years  later  it  was 
completed.  The  plans  were  made  by  Friar  Gero- 
nimo  Villegas,  a  native  of  Lima,  and  the  work 
was  carried  on  under  the  direction  of  Juan  de 
Corral.  The  expenses  of  the  construction  were 
met  in  part  by  a  tax  of  two  reals  on  every  sheep 
consumed  in  the  city,  and  by  certain  contributions 
required  of  other  cities  in  the  viceroyalty.  Some 
of  these  cities  were  unable  to  see  any  justice  in 
being  required  to  pay  for  work  that  lay  entirely 
beyond  the  limits  of  their  jurisdiction ;  and  Quito, 
in  particular,  complained  at  being  compelled  to 
furnish  this  assistance.  The  total  cost  of  the 
structure,  including  the  replacing  the  arch  that 
was  thrown  down  by  the  earthquake  of  1746,  was 
seven  hundred  thousand  pesos. 

The  principal  plaza,  now  only  a  breathing 
place  for  the  citizens,  a  place  of  rest  and  recre- 
ation, appears  to  have  been  used  as  a  market  at 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  was  sup- 
plied abundantly  with  products  of  Europe  and 
America.  Negresses  generally  conducted  the 
sales,  ''and  judging  from  their  good  clothing  and 
the  manner  in  which  they  conduct  themselves  one 
may  conclude  that  many  of  them  pass  a  life  of 
comfort  and  the  most  of  them  acquire  wealth."^ 

2  Haenke,  Tades,  Descripcion  del  Peru,  Lima,  1901,  3. 


LIMA  AND  SANTIAGO  295 

The  principal  streets  were  broad  and  straight, 
dividing  the  city  into  blocks  one  hundred  and  fifty 
yards  square,  and  were  paved  and  kept  notably 
clean.  Many  of  the  houses  were  large,  built  about 
one  or  more  patios,  or  courts,  and  were  con- 
structed of  adobes  and  of  studs  interwoven  with 
cane  or  bamboo,  and  covered  with  plaster  or 
stucco.  The  roofs,  in  the  absence  of  rain,  were 
of  little  importance,  except  to  keep  out  the  sun, 
and  were  in  many  cases  formed  of  a  framework 
of  timber  and  reeds  covered  with  earth.  This 
form  of  construction,  particularly  the  basketwork 
walls  covered  with  plaster,  were  thought  to  be 
well  adapted,  by  their  lack  of  rigidity,  to  with- 
stand the  shocks  of  the  frequent  earthquakes. 
There  were,  in  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  3641  houses  in  the  city,  which  was  divided 
into  thirty-five  wards,  in  each  of  which  there  was 
an  alcalde  de  barrio  elected  to  watch  over  the  par- 
ticular interests  of  his  ward,  and  who  was  subject 
to  the  central  authority. 

II 

The  inhabitants  of  Lima  entered  upon  the 
second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  with  the 
task  of  reconstructing  the  city  only  partially 
accomplished.  The  earthquake  of  1746  had  trans- 
formed a  large  part  of  the  buildings  into  masses 
of  ruins,  and  those  persons  who  had  occupied  the 
houses  destroyed  had  sought  safety  in  the  public 


296  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

squares  and  in  the  suburbs.  At  the  time  of  the 
earthquake,  after  the  first  stupefying  effect  of  the 
shock  had  passed,  and  the  inhabitants  had  learned 
that  a  tidal  wave  had  completely  destroyed  Callao, 
and  even  carried  ships  from  the  harbor  directly 
over  the  town,  they  were  seized  by  an  unreason- 
able fear  that  the  same  calamity  might  overtake 
them.  A  rumor  was  spread  through  all  the  city 
that  the  sea  was  rising  and  advancing  towards 
Lima.  Apparently  forgetting  that  the  city  was 
six  miles  from  Callao  and  five  hundred  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  they  were  seized  by  a  panic 
that  prevented  all  sober  reflection,  and  sent  them 
in  wild  confusion  towards  the  neighboring  moun- 
tains. 

The  number  of  victims  of  the  earthquake  and 
the  flood  in  Lima  and  Callao  is  set  down  at  some- 
what more  than  sixteen  thousand.  Some  of  the 
members  of  the  clergy  added  to  the  terror  of  the 
event  by  noisily  proclaiming  that  the  catastrophe 
was  a  Divine  punishment  for  the  sins  of  the 
people.  The  provincial  of  the  San  Franciscans 
preached  against  those  persons  who  had  affirmed 
that  the  earthquake  was  the  effect  of  natural 
causes.  The  destruction  of  the  shops  and  the 
bakeries  caused  an  immediate  scarcity  of  pro- 
visions ;  but  the  embarrassment  was  soon  removed 
by  the  influx  of  food  from  the  country,  and  by  the 
arrival  of  ships  from  Chile  with  cargoes  of  wheat. 
A  greater  source  of  danger  appeared  in  the  pos- 
sible infection  from  the  large  number  of  unburied 


LIMA  AND  SANTIAGO  297 

bodies  of  men  and  animals.  And  to  these  evils 
was  added  the  plundering  of  the  dead  and  the 
ruins  by  bands  of  outlaws. 

Ill 

Somewhat  of  the  social  character  of  Lima  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  city  was  the  residence  of 
the  viceroy  of  Peru.  Representing  the  king,  he 
maintained  much  of  the  style  of  royalty.  He  was 
attended  by  two  companies  of  guards,  one  of 
cavalry  and  one  of  halberdiers.  Before  1784  the 
cavalry  company  contained  one  hundred  and 
forty-seven  men,  but  in  that  year  it  was  reduced 
to  a  captain  and  thirty-four  men.  The  halberdiers 
were  reduced  to  a  captain  and  twenty-four  men. 
When  the  viceroy  drove  through  or  about  the  city, 
four  of  the  cavalrymen  preceded  him  and  four 
followed.  His  court  was  made  to  resemble  that  of 
a  European  monarch.  The  presence  in  Lima  of 
a  group  of  families  distinguished  by  their  wealth 
or  titles  contributed  to  the  imitation.  The  highest 
title  in  this  society  was  that  of  duke,  held  by 
Formin  de  Carvajal  y  Vargas,  who  was  born  in 
Chile  in  1722.  His  father,  Luis  de  Carvajal,  was 
a  regidor  of  Concepcion.  Formin  de  Carvajal 
was  later  an  alcalde  of  Lima,  a  familiar  of  the 
inquisition,  and  an  incumbent  of  other  important 
offices.  As  holder  of  the  office  of  correo  mayor, 
he  received  the  revenues  of  the  post-office,  and 
when  these  were  resumed  by  the  crown,  in  1768. 


298  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

Charles  III  granted  him  as  compension  an  annual 
income  of  fourteen  thousand  dollars.  Eleven 
years  later,  in  1779,  he  was  made  Duke  of  San 
Carlos,  a  grandee  of  Spain  of  the  first  class,  and 
a  field  marshal. 

Among  the  institutions  established  at  Lima, 
the  most  conspicuous  was  the  royal  audiencia, 
created  in  1546.  At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  it  was  composed  of  a  regent,  eight  judges, 
four  alcaldes  de  corte,  and  two  prosecuting  attor- 
neys. The  viceroy  was  the  president.  For  the 
administration  of  justice,  the  audiencia  was 
organized  in  three  divisions.  Two  divisions,  com- 
posed of  oidores,  or  judges,  considered  civil  cases, 
while  the  third  division,  composed  of  the  alcaldes 
de  corte,  dealt  with  criminal  cases. 

The  superior  council  of  the  royal  treasury  was 
composed  of  the  viceroy  as  president,  and  five 
members  including  the  regent  of  the  audiencia. 
Created  in  1784,  the  principal  object  of  this  body 
was  to  supervise  the  affairs  of  the  treasury  and 
the  economical  affairs  of  the  department  of  war. 
A  court  of  accounts,  properly  a  bureau  of  audit- 
ing; a  bureau  charged  with  making  a  census  of 
Indians ;  a  commercial  tribunal  known  as  the  con- 
sulado ;  a  court  of  mines ;  and  the  royal  mint  were 
some  of  the  other  institutions  established  at  Lima.^ 
There  were  various  other  organizations  or  offices 
that  helped  to  give  the  city  the  appearance  and 
character  of  a  capital.     Among  these  were  the 

3  On  the  institutions  of  Lima,  see  Memorias   de   los  vireyes, 
VI,  79-86. 


LIMA  AND  SANTIAGO  299 

University  of  San  Marcos,  the  central  post-office, 
the  commission  for  managing  the  royal  monopo- 
lies, the  custom-house,  and  the  commission  for 
managing  the  royal  monte  de  piedad,  or  pawn- 
shop. There  were  established  here  also  a  large 
number  of  religious  orders,  that  had  acquired  a 
large  amount  of  property  and  were  receiving 
extensive  annual  revenues.* 

4  The  following  tabular  statement  presents  the  religious  houses 
in  Lima  at  the  period  in  question,  together  with  the  numbers  of 
the  members  and  the  amounts  of  their  annual  revenues  stated  in 
dollars : 

Dominicans : 

Convento  grande  del  Eosario 146 

Santa  Kosa 

Magdalena 

Santo  Tomas 

Franciscans,  three  monasteries: 

Convento   grande   de   Jesus 161  _ 

College  of  San  Buenaventura  de  Guade- 

lupe    „ 20  

Kecoleccion  33  

Augustinians,  three  houses: 

Casa  grande  129  34,150 

Eecoleccion  de  Guia 9  1,928 

University  of  San  Ildef onso 30  4,104 

Mercedarios,  three  houses: 

Casa  grande  140  19,922 

Eecoleccion   de  Bethlem 16  2,945 

College  of  San  Pedro  Nolasco 34  3,900 

Order  of  San  Francisco  de  Paula 42  7,139 

Hospitalarios  de  San  Juan  de  Dios 43  4,561 

Agonizantes,  two  houses: 

Convento    de    Nuestra    Senora    de    la 

Buena  Muerte  53  19,724 

Santa  Liberata  5  2,500 

Oratorio  de  San  Felipe  Neri 41  3,283 

Hospitium  of  St.  Benedict 2  1,630 


No.  of 

members 

Revenues 

146 
9 

$35,389 
2,519 

19 

8,869 

30 

6,802 

No.  of 

members 

Revenues 

22 

3,640 

2 

1,630 

572 

119,504 

210 

5,300 

12 

12 

1,141 

11 

5 

300  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

Beletmitas,  two  houses: 

Casa  grande  

Casa  de  Incurables 

Fourteen  Convents  of  Nuns 

Beaterios,  or  houses  inhabited  by  pious 
women : 
Eeal  Casa  de  Amparados  de  la 

Purisima  Concepcion  210 

Nuestra  Senora  de  Copacabana 

Santa  Eosa  de  Viterbo 

Patrocinio  

Camilas    , 

Real    Casa    de    Ejercicios,    retreat    for 

religious  women  ....  1,200 

A  less  detailed  statement  is  found  in  the  Eelacion  by  Viceroy 
Francisco  Gil  de  Taboada  y  Lemos,  made  on  the  basis  of  the 
enumeration  of  1791 ;  it  gives  the  number  of  monks  as  1100,  nuns 
as  572,  and  beatas  as  84. — Memorias  de  los  vireyes,  VI,  28. 

Besides  these  houses  devoted  exclusively  to 
the  life  of  the  religious,  there  were  also  many 
hospitals  and  other  institutions  having  charitable 
or  public  purposes,  that  were  directed  and  con- 
trolled by  the  church.  But  the  large  amount  of 
wealth  held  by  the  religious  orders  may  not  be 
taken  as  conclusive  evidence  that  the  king  of 
Spain  and  the  Council  of  the  Indies  favored  the 
accumulation  of  real  property  in  the  hands  of  the 
church.  The  following  statement  in  the  Laws  of 
the  Indies  points  to  an  opposite  view:  ''Let  the 
lands  be  distributed  reasonably  among  the  dis- 
coverers and  pobladores  antiguos  and  their  de- 
scendants, who  may  remain  in  the  country,  and  let 
them  not  be  able  to  sell  them  either  to  a  church  or 
to  a  monastery  or  to  any  other  ecclesiastical  per- 


LIMA  AND  SANTIAGO  301 

son,  under  pain  of  the  lands  reverting  to  the  king 
and  being  conferred  upon  other  persons."^ 

This  law,  however,  like  many  others  made 
for  the  Indies  with  excellent  intentions,  was  not 
effective;  for  real  property  was  brought  into  the 
hands  of  ecclesiastics  to  such  an  extent  that,  as  it 
has  been  said,  ''secular  persons  came  to  be 
mere  administrators  of  estates  possessed  by  the 
church."^  In  Lima  and  some  of  the  other  cities, 
the  monasteries  owned  a  large  part  of  all  the  real 
estate ;  and  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
it  was  said  ' '  there  are  but  few  who  do  not  pay  rent 
to  the  church,  either  for  their  houses  or  their 
farms. ' " 

IV 

From  contemporary  records  we  are  able  to 
derive  a  sufficiently  clear  idea  of  the  personal 
qualities  of  the  inhabitants  of  Lima  as  well  as  of 
their  general  activity,  during  the  last  years  of 
Spanish  rule.  They  were  generous,  and  spent 
their  money  lavishly,  often  going  beyond  reason- 
able limits  even  to  their  ruin.  This  was  particu- 
larly true  of  the  Creoles,  who,  perhaps  recognizing 
their  social  inferiority,  sought  to  overcome  this 
prejudice  by  extravagant  display.  There  was  lit- 
tle crime  among  them,  but,  when  a  crime  had  been 

5  Leyes  de  Indies,  lib.  4,  tit.  12,  ley  10. 

6  Oliveira,  27,  28. 

7  A  True  and  Particular  Belation  of  the  Dreadful  Eartliquake, 
London,  1748,  279,  280. 


302  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

committed,  their  inclination  to  mercy  led  them  to 
seek  to  protect  the  culprit.  This  humanity  was 
manifested  also  in  their  treatment  of  their  slaves. 
It  was  very  rare  that  slaves  complained  of  severe 
treatment  by  their  masters.  Living  in  a  society 
dominated  by  the  viceroy,  the  inhabitants  of  Lima 
acquired  somewhat  of  the  refinements  and  formal- 
ity of  manners  characteristic  of  dwellers  near  a 
royal  court.  Their  desire  for  wealth  and  its  uses 
led  even  members  of  illustrious  houses  to  oppose 
the  prejudices  that  existed  in  Spain,  and  engage 
openly  in  trade.  They  possessed  a  peculiar  pride, 
or  vanity,  which  tended  to  manifest  itself  in  ex- 
travagant sentiments  and  statements  concerning 
their  surroundings.  In  their  language  every 
white  man  was  a  caballero;  every  instrumental 
concert  was  an  opera;  every  man  with  the  ele- 
ments of  education  was  a  savant;  and  any  one 
showing  any  evidence  of  devotion  was  a  saint  or 
an  angel.  They  were  given  to  pleasure  and 
gambling,  and  in  general  to  a  life  of  entertain- 
ment and  idleness.  Idolizers  of  women,  they 
almost  always  held  their  own  wives  in  little 
esteem.  The  youth  were  easily  corrupted,  and 
the  luxury  of  the  demi-monde  indicated  that  a 
large  number  of  contributions  were  made  to  their 
wealth. 

''Lima,"  says  Haenke,  ''like  the  cities  of 
Spain,  has  its  bull-ring  where  bull-fights  are  held 
at  appointed  times.  The  bull-fighters,  the  most 
active  and  daring,  have  the  custom  of  hamstring- 


LIMA  AND  SANTIAGO  303 

ing  the  bull  if  he  will  not  attack.  The  people  of 
Lima  count  among  their  public  amusements  the 
drama,  for  the  representation  of  which  they  have 
a  sufficiently  capacious  theatre.  Good  order  and 
neatness  are  maintained  in  the  treatre  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  the  spectators  smoke  during  the 
play.  The  decorations  are  mediocre,  and  the 
actors  are  ordinary.  Generally  no  other  plays  are 
given  than  those  which  we  call  magic  or  religious 
plays.  The  public  applauds  them  heartily,  and 
the  time  appears  still  very  remote  when  these 
coarser  productions  will  be  driven  from  the 
stage,  which,  far  from  instructing,  vitiate  the 
understanding  and  confirm  bad  taste."® 

Among  the  popular  amusements  of  the  city, 
pelota  and  cock-fighting  were  especially  conspicu- 
ous, and  furnished  occasions  for  extensive  betting. 
The  cock-fights  were  at  first  held  in  the  streets, 
public  squares,  and  vacant  lots.  In  1762  Viceroy 
Amat,  acting  on  a  proposition  by  Juan  Garial, 
ordered  the  construction  of  a  cockpit,  Garial  bind- 

8  Haenke,  Tadeo,  Descripcion  del  Peru,  Lima,  1901,  29. 

Before  the  year  1771  cafes  were  not  known  in  Lima.  This  year 
Francisco  Serio  proposed  to  establish  a  cafe,  and  his  project  was 
supported  by  Viceroy  Manuel  de  Amat.  This  was  a  new  institu- 
tion and  was  much  frequented.  Its  extensive  patronage  induced 
a  person  called  Salazar  to  open  another  the  next  year.  This 
second  cafe  was  known  as  Francisquin;  later  it  became  an  inn, 
the  Leon  de  Oro.  Serio 's  venture  proved  so  profitable  that  in  1775 
he  opened  a  larger  place  called  Cafe  de  las  Animas.  A  third  cafe 
was  established  near  the  bridge,  called  the  Cafe  de  Puente.  Others 
were  established  later,  but  the  first  three  or  four  were  extensively 
patronized,  and  through  their  influence  the  cafe  became  a  favorite 
place  of  resort. — Mendiburu,  Apuntes  historicos,  79,  82 ;  Mercurio 
Peruano,  I,  108-111. 


304  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

ing  himself  to  pay  annually  five  hundred  pesos  to 
the  hospital  of  San  Andres,  and  one  thousand 
pesos  into  the  treasury  of  the  city.  This  pit  was 
constructed  in  the  plaza  of  Santa  Catalina.  The 
fights  were  held  on  holidays  and  two  other  days 
of  the  week. 

The  basis  of  the  life  and  prosperity  of  Lima 
was  commerce.  The  precious  metals  from  the 
mines  and  the  wares  from  Europe  were  received 
and  forwarded  or  distributed  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  city.  But  in  1794  Arica  had  begun  to  receive 
European  goods,  and  this  took  away  from  Lima 
the  trade  of  the  rich  provinces  of  Cuzco  and 
Arequipa.^  The  increase  of  direct  shipments  be- 
tween Spain  and  Buenos  Aires  helped,  moreover, 
to  detract  from  Lima's  trade;  and  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  corregidor  as  the  sole  trader  in  his 
district  diminished  materially  the  demand  for 
wares  at  Lima.  In  connection  with  these  facts, 
and  perhaps  as  their  consequence,  there  was  ob- 
served a  marked  increase  in  the  number  of  the 
unemployed." 

The  inquisition  continued  throughout  the  cen- 
tury to  maintain  its  principal  colonial  office  at 
Lima,  and  here  it  continued  its  nefarious  inquiries 
and  its  fiendish  punishments. 

9  Memorias  de  los  vireyes,  VI,  121. 

io"Discurso  sobre  el  destine  que  debe  darse  a  la  gente  vaga 
que  tiene  Lima,"  by  Joseph  Ignacio  de  Legimada,  in  Mercurio 
Peruano  for  February  16,  1794  (X,  115).  The  author  of  the 
Discurso  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  son  of  an  artisan 
was  not  willing  to  follow  the  career  of  his  father,  preferring,  in 
case  no  other  occupation  was  at  hand,  to  join  the  ranks  of  the 
unemployed. 


LIMA  AND  SANTIAGO  305 

V 

In  Peru  the  sandy  lowlands  near  the  coast  and 
the  mountains  of  the  interior  made  life  in  towns 
or  cities  the  preferred  form  of  existence;  but  the 
physical  characteristics  of  Chile,  the  fertile  lands 
and  the  agreeable  climate,  rendered  rural  life 
there  to  such  an  extent  attractive  that  the  inhab- 
itants had  in  a  large  measure  resisted  the  efforts 
that  had  been  made  to  cause  them  to  live  in  cities. 
At  the  end  of  the  century  two-thirds  of  the 
population  were  still  living  scattered  about  the 
country,  on  the  estates  or  at  the  mines.  Except 
Santiago,  no  city  had  more  than  six  thousand 
inhabitants.  Concepcion  had  about  five  thousand. 
The  cities  next  in  size  were  Valparaiso  and 
Serena.  After  these  came  Chilian  and  Talca. 
Each  of  the  last  two  had  about  four  thousand 
inhabitants.  In  general  the  dwellers  in  the  cities 
had  few  opportunities  for  getting  information  of 
events  in  other  countries,  and  at  the  same  time 
they  had  very  little  interest  in  such  events.  But, 
as  the  majority  of  the  cities  were  small,  they  were 
intensely  interested  in  local  feuds  and  factions. 
These  arose  naturally  where  the  towns  were 
isolated,  and  where  large  numbers  of  persons  were 
idle  and  without  incentives  to  higher  aspirations. 
There  w^ere  no  amusements  but  card-playing, 
bowling,  cock-fighting,  and  horse-racing. 

Santiago,  the  capital  of  the  colony,  the  resi- 
dence of  the  governor,  or  the  captain-general,  the 


306  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

seat  of  the  audiencia,  was  the  center  of  the  most 
pretentious  society  of  Chile.  It  had  about  thirty 
thousand  inhabitants.  With  respect  to  its  public 
buildings  it  was  not  below  the  standard  of  Lima 
or  Mexico.  But  the  private  houses  were  generally 
simple,  one-story  structures,  and  the  interior  fur- 
nishings were  necessarily  plain,  on  account  of  the 
expensiveness  of  European  wares  and  the  rude- 
ness of  nearly  all  colonial  products.  The  streets 
were  usually  dirty,  but  this  feature  of  the  city's 
affairs  was  greatly  improved  under  the  republic. 
The  practice  of  burying  larged  numbers  of  bodies 
in  the  churches  led  to  *'the  propagation  of  epi- 
demics that  made  great  ravages  among  the 
inhabitants.  The  churches  in  which  the  soil  was 
constantly  removed  for  new  burials  emitted  an 
unhealthy  and  pestiferous  odor,  which  made  it 
necessary  to  open  and  ventilate  them  every  morn- 
ing before  the  faithful  assembled.'"^ 

In  Santiago,  as  in  the  other  important  Span- 
ish-American capitals,  there  was  a  limited  class 
of  men  who  had  acquired  titles  of  nobility,  and 
whose  wealth  enabled  them  to  live  in  luxury  as 
compared  with  the  bulk  of  the  inhabitants.  Cor- 
vallo,  describing  them,  said:  "They  use  costly 
carriages  and  fine  liveries,  and  show  themselves 
on  the  public  drives,  and  visiting  and  at  balls  with 
rich  costumes  and  valuable  jewels.'"^  The  city 
had  no  public  market,  but  the  plaza  in  front  of 

11  Barros  Arana,  Hist,  de  Chile,  VII,  459. 

12  Bescripddn  Mstdrico-geogrdfica,  Part  II,  Chap.  4. 


LIMA  AND  SANTIAGO  307 

the  cathedral  was  used  for  this  purpose.  The 
streets  were  not  lighted,  except  as  those  who  went 
out  at  night  or  their  servants  carried  lanterns. 
The  state  of  the  city  in  this  respect  was  an  in- 
centive to  vice  and  disorder.  But  the  character 
of  many  of  the  lower  class  made  any  incentive 
of  this  kind  superfluous,  for  ''drunkenness  was  a 
vice  much  more  common  than  in  our  day,  as  were 
also  robbery,  brawls,  and  assassinations."^^  Beg- 
ging had  attained  such  alarming  proportions  that 
many  persons  were  inclined  to  seek  a  remedy,  and 
hoped  to  find  it  in  the  development  of  industries ; 
and  to  this  end  they  sought  to  suppress  the 
obstacles  that  had  stood  in  the  way  of  industrial 
progress. 

The  filth,  the  vice,  the  ignorance,  and  the  lack 
of  sanitary  measures  and  of  proper  medicinal 
remedies,  both  in  the  country  and  in  the  cities,  in 
spite  of  the  general  healthf nines s  of  the  climate, 
made  it  possible  for  diseases  to  become  epidemic. 
In  the  records  of  the  municipal  council  of  Santi- 
ago, the  existence  of  the  epidemics  was  carefully 
noted,  as  was  also  the  action  taken  to  provide 
prayers,  offerings,  and  processions  to  allay  the 
evil.  But  the  records  give  no  pathological  indi- 
cations sufficient  to  inform  us  of  the  character  of 
the  diseases  in  question.  From  other  sources, 
however,  it  is  knowai  that  syphilis  and  smallpox 
were  two  of  the  diseases  that  spread  their  ravages 
through  the  colony.  Smallpox  was  first  intro- 
duced into  Chile  in  1561,  and  from  time  to  time 

13  Barros  Arana,  Hist,  de  Chile,  VII,  463. 


308  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

throughout  the  colonial  period  it  appeared  and 
carried  off  its  victims  by  thousands.  In  1765,  the 
municipal  council  of  Santiago  recorded  the  fact 
that,  in  the  few  preceding  months,  smallpox  had 
caused  the  death  of  more  than  five  thousand  per- 
sons. In  1788-1789  the  city  of  Concepcion,  having 
a  population  of  not  more  than  six  thousand,  lost 
fifteen  hundred  by  smallpox.  The  ravages  of  the 
disease,  as  it  swept  through  the  cities  and  over 
the  country,  left  horror  and  desolation  in  its  path. 
Those  persons  who  escaped  death  were  often 
greatly  disfigured,  and  many  of  them  were  left 
blind.  Its  appearance  in  one  province,  Santiago 
or  Concepcion,  led  the  other  province  to  establish 
a  quarantine  line  along  the  river  Maule,  but  the 
precautions  were  always  ineffective.  In  the  last 
half  of  the  century  successful  vaccination  was 
introduced,  but  it  could  not  be  made  general. 
Except  among  the  cultivated  classes,  it  met  with 
insurmountable  opposition. 

VI 

In  the  society  of  Chile  where  a  small  minority 
of  the  inhabitants — the  Spaniards  and  the  Cre- 
oles— sought  to  preserve  the  lines  of  class  separa- 
tion, the  mestizos  constituted  a  large  lower  class, 
the  members  of  which  found  it  difficult  to  keep 
above  the  line  of  positive  misery.  They  inherited 
vices  as  well  as  virtues  from  both  of  the  races 
from  which  they  were  descended.  The  mestizos, 
like  their  ancestors  on  the  side  of  the  Indians, 


LIMA  AND  SANTIAGO  309 

were  both  physically  and  mentally  strong;  yet 
they  were  rough,  malicious,  superstitious,  given 
to  gambling,  intoxicating  drinks,  and  robbery,  and 
they  were  easily  drawn  into  bloody  quarrels. 
They  might  have  become  a  powerful  factor  in  the 
material  progress  of  the  country,  if  the  political 
authorities  and  the  upper  class  had  known  how 
to  provide  the  conditions  in  which  their  labor 
would  have  been  demanded.  But  in  the  isolation 
imposed  by  nature  and  under  the  restrictive  legis- 
lation imposed  by  Spain,  there  was  only  a  limited 
market  for  the  wares  which  the  country  might 
most  readily  produce,  and  as  a  consequence  those 
persons  who  might  have  become  most  effective 
laborers  were  wasted,  without  employment,  in 
recklessness  and  poverty.  There  was  no  lack  of 
laborers  to  complete  promptly  the  wheat  harvest 
in  spite  of  its  abundance,  or  to  perform  the  work 
of  the  vintage.  The  market  was  inadequate  to 
receive  the  wares  that  were  produced,  or,  espe- 
cially, that  would  have  been  produced  if  all  the 
laborers  had  been  employed.  These  circum- 
stances made  the  increase  of  vagrancy  inevitable. 
Negroes  formed  only  a  small  part  of  the 
colonial  population  of  Chile.  The  first  colonists, 
instead  of  buying  negroes,  availed  themselves  of 
the  labor  of  the  Indians,  with  little  or  no  cost. 
There  were,  however,  three  or  four  thousand 
African  slaves  in  Chile  before  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  but  a  later  rise  in  their 
price  caused  many  to  be  transported  to  Peru  and 


310  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

there  sold;  and,  but  for  the  prohibition  of  the 
governor,  all  of  them  would  probably  have  been 
taken  away.  Valparaiso  was  the  port  from  which 
the  slaves  were  shipped ;  and  with  this  beginning, 
it  became  a  somewhat  important  market  for  slaves 
brought  from  Africa  by  way  of  Buenos  Aires. 
Many  negroes  and  mulattoes  born  in  Chile  were 
also  sold  there  for  transportation  to  Peru.  The 
low  wages  of  free  laborers  in  Chile  made  it  un- 
profitable to  keep  slaves,  particularly  since  the 
price  had  risen  from  250  to  600  dollars.  Yet  at 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  there  were  in 
Chile  ten  or  twelve  thousand  negroes  and  mulat- 
toes, including  both  sexes.  Of  this  number  only 
four  or  five  thousand  were  slaves,  and  these  were 
almost  all  in  domestic  service.  They  were  kept  by 
the  wealthy  families  largely  for  ostentation. 
They  were  generally  dressed  well,  sometimes  in 
showy  livery,  and  were  treated  with  kindness. 
Some  of  them  who  appeared  to  be  sufficiently 
intelligent  and  trustworthy,  were  made  superin- 
tendents on  estates  in  the  country,  while  others 
were  taught  trades.  They  became  tailors  and 
shoemakers,  and  made  the  clothing  and  shoes  for 
the  family  of  their  masters.  Among  the  negroes 
and  mulattoes  who  were  free,  there  were  tailors, 
shoemakers,  carpenters,  silversmiths,  and  some 
who  followed  other  trades.  Those  living  in  Santi- 
ago formed  a  small  battalion,  under  officers  of 
the  white  race;  and  in  the  struggle  for  indepen- 
dence they  rendered  important  service  in  the 
battle  of  Maipo. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  STATE   OF  VENEZUELA  AND  MIRANDA'S 
EXPEDITION 

I.  External  attempts  to  overthrow  Spanish  rule.  IT. 
The  captaincy-general  at  Venezuela.  III.  The 
revolt  led  by  Espana  and  Gual  in  1797.  IV. 
Manners  and  sentiments  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Venezuela.  V,  The  unemployed  and  the  remedy. 
VI.  The  economic  confusion  in  the  province.  VII. 
Miranda's  project.  VIII,  Plans  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States.  IX.  The  expedition  from 
the  United  States. 


The  internal  rebellions  and  conspiracies  against 
the  government  of  Spain's  dependencies  in  South 
America  were  followed  by  assaults  relying  on 
external  support.  The  primary  aim  of  the  inter- 
nal revolts  was  relief  from  burdensome  taxes. 
The  objects  of  the  external  attacks  were  commer- 
cial and  political  advantages.  If  the  revolting 
colonies  had  plans  for  the  overthrow  of  the  gov- 
ernment, such  plans  were  developed  only  after 
reform  had  appeared  to  be  impossible.  For  many 
years  Great  Britain  and  France  had  coveted  the 


312  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

opportunities  for  wealth  and  political  power 
offered  by  Spain's  American  possessions.  The 
inhabitants  had,  therefore,  reason  to  suppose  that 
their  appeals  to  foreign  governments  for  assist- 
ance would  be  successful,  since  they  were  ad- 
dressed to  the  cupidity  and  political  ambition  of 
those  governments.  Negotiations  concerning 
those  appeals  were  a  part  of  the  elaborate  web 
of  European  diplomacy  in  the  century's  later 
decades. 

Two  conspicuous  late  attempts  from  without 
to  overthrow  the  Spanish  authority  before  the 
beginning  of  the  campaign  for  independence 
were  the  invasion  of  Venezuela  by  Francisco  de 
Miranda,  with  men  enlisted  in  the  United  States, 
and  the  taking  of  Buenos  Aires  by  the  British.^ 
Miranda  was  a  native  of  Caracas,  and  much  of  his 
remarkable  activity  was  directed  to  obtaining  for- 
eign support  for  his  revolutionary  project.  His 
first  conference  with  Pitt  concerning  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  colonies  was  held  in  February,  1790. 
At  this  time  the  plans  of  the  revolutionists  had 
become  definite.    The  free  and  independent  state 

1  The  expeditions  of  Admiral  Veruou  and  Commodore  Anson 
were  undertaken,  if  not  with  a  conscious  determination  to  over- 
throw completely  the  rule  of  Spain  in  South  America,  at  least  to 
open  the  colonial  ports  to  British  trade.  Vernon  expected  to 
establish  the  power  of  Britain  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  on  the 
northern  coast  of  South  America,  while  Anson  was  to  penetrate 
the  southern  seas,  sack  the  open  ports  of  Peru,  and  effect  com- 
munication with  Vernon  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  These 
expeditions  occupy  a  place  midway  between  the  raids  of  the 
earlier  freebooters  and  the  later  more  elaborately  prepared  attempts 
to  supplant  Spanish  power  in  America. 


THE   STATE  OF  VENEZUELA  313 

to  be  created  was  designed  to  supercede  the  Span- 
ish colonies,  and  to  embrace  all  of  their  territory, 
but  the  initial  effort  was  intended  to  supplant 
the  rule  of  Spain  in  Venezuela. 


II 


This  province,  formerly  a  part  of  the  vice- 
royalty  of  New  Granada,  had  been  finally  organ- 
ized as  a  captaincy-general  in  1777.  At  this  time 
an  intendant  was  appointed,  who,  assisted  by 
the  governors  of  the  subordinate  districts,  was 
charged  with  the  financial  affairs  of  the  depen- 
dency. The  local  governors,  or  delegates,  directed 
all  ordinary  expenses  in  their  districts,  but  for 
all  extraordinary  expenses  they  required  the 
approval  of  the  intendant.  From  their  decisions 
relating  to  affairs  within  their  jurisdiction,  there 
was  an  appeal  to  the  intendant,  but  if  no  appeal 
was  taken  the  delegate  might  submit  his  decision 
to  the  intendant  for  approval.  The  intendant  was 
president  of  the  general  assembly  of  the  con- 
sulado,  and  was  the  judge  of  appeals  from  that 
court.  ^ 

The  audiencia  established  in  1786  included 
within  its  jurisdiction  all  the  territory  subject  to 
the  captain-general:  the  provinces  of  Venezuela, 
Maracaibo,  Cumana,  Varinas,  Guayana,  and  the 

2  Depons,  F.,  A  Voyage  to  the  eastern  part  of  Terra  Firma,  or 
the  Spanish  Main  m  South  America,  New  York,  1806,  11,  105,  106. 


314  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

island  of  Margarita.  The  captain-general  was  its 
president,  and  it  served  as  his  advisory  council  in 
affairs  of  administration ;  it  was  also  the  supreme 
court  of  the  captaincy-general.  Appeals  might  be 
taken  to  it  from  the  decisions  of  the  municipal 
court  of  the  alcaldes.  The  consulado  of  Caracas, 
created  in  1798  for  the  purpose  of  settling  com- 
mercial controversies,  performed  its  functions  not 
only  at  the  capital,  but  also  through  deputies  at 
the  important  ports.  This  tribunal  was  composed 
of  the  intendant  as  its  president,  a  prior,  two 
consuls,  nine  counsellors,  and  a  syndic,  with  a 
secretary,  an  assessor,  and  deputies.  The  process 
in  its  trials  was  simple  and  direct,  the  judges  mak- 
ing an  effort  to  effect  an  amicable  settlement.  If 
the  case  was  especially  complicated,  the  parties 
were  permitted  to  make  written  statements,  but 
they  were  obliged  to  swear  that  no  lawyer  had 
been  concerned  in  preparing  the  papers.  The 
consulado  was  expressly  charged  by  the  king  to 
report  measures  for  the  encouragement  of  agri- 
culture, industry,  and  commerce;  to  further  the 
construction  of  roads ;  to  improve  the  port  of  La 
Guayra;  and  to  facilitate  the  use  of  such  rivers 
as  might  serve  for  the  transportation  of  produce. 
But  the  practical  achievements  of  this  body  re- 
sponded only  indifferently  to  the  expectations 
entertained  concerning  it.  The  trade  it  was 
created  to  stimulate  declined  during  the  years 
following  its  establishment.  The  exports  from 
the    captaincy-general    between    1793    and    1796 


THE   STATE  OF  VENEZUELA  315 

amounted  to  $12,252,415;  between  1796  and  1800, 
to  only  $6,442,318.^ 

Somewhat  of  the  inefficiency  of  the  consulado 
was  due  to  the  election  of  persons  who  sought 
membership  more  for  the  honor  conferred  upon 
them  than  for  the  opportunity  for  service.  The 
diminution  of  exports  was  in  large  measure  owing 
to  the  failure  of  the  harvests  in  1798  and  1799. 
In  the  latter  year  there  was  such  a  scarcity  of 
food  that  the  cabildo  of  Caracas  passed  a  resolu- 
tion to  encourage  the  merchants  to  import  grain 
from  the  Antilles.  The  execution  of  this  measure 
was,  however,  suspended  by  the  opposition  of  the 
commandant  of  La  Guayra.  The  inhabitants 
appeared  to  be  facing  'a  famine ;  and  this  state  of 
affairs  was  aggravated  by  the  conspiracy  of  1797. 

Ill 

The  Creoles  in  Venezuela,  as  well  as  elsewhere, 
had  adopted  the  principles  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. They  recognized  the  inability  of  Spain  to 
send  adequate  forces  to  America,  and  in  their  dis- 
satisfaction they  began  to  expect  support  from 
England.  Three  state  prisoners,  condemned  in 
Spain,  arrived  in  La  Guayra,  and,  under  the  lib- 
erty allowed  them  in  their  prison,  they  became 
propagandists  of  revolutionary  doctrines.  They 
escaped  and  joined  the  conspirators  who  were  led 
by  Jose  Maria  Espaiia  and  Manuel  Gual.    In  July, 

3Depons,  11,  346. 


316  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

1797,  the  conspiracy  was  discovered.  The  leaders 
fled  to  Trinidad,  but  many  of  their  adherents  were 
arrested.  Espaiia,  interpreting  the  dilatoriness 
of  the  courts  to  indicate  the  possibility  of  an  armi- 
stice, returned  to  Venezuela.  He  went  to  join  his 
wife  at  La  Guayra.  Although  he  had  entered  the 
town  disguised  and  lived  in  hiding,  he  was  dis- 
covered April  29,  1799,  and  a  few  days  later  was 
hanged  in  the  plaza  of  Caracas.  His  head  was 
placed  in  an  iron  cage  at  La  Guayra,  and  his  limbs 
were  distributed  among  several  towns.* 

On  July  12,  1799,  Manuel  Gual  wrote  to 
Miranda  from  Trinidad:  *'Our  enterprise  failed 
only  from  this  circumstance,  that  of  my  being 
absent  from  Caracas :  the  government  discovered 
the  plan  through  the  imprudence  of  a  simpleton; 
they  arrested  many  persons,  and  took  the  most 
active  measures,  both  at  La  Guayra  and  Caracas ; 
so  that  our  combinations  being  defeated,  I  was 
obliged  to  make  my  escape,  with  the  view  of  seek- 
ing succor  in  the  English  colonies,  as  the  hopes  of 
my  countrymen  are  still  alive.  This,  in  a  few 
words,  is  an  account  of  the  miscarriage  of  our 
attempt;  since  which,  the  desire  of  independency 
has  but  increased."^ 

When  Charles  IV  learned  of  the  revolt,  he  sent 
to  the  audiencia  a  secret  order  recommending  the 

4  Baralt  and  Diaz,  Besumen  de  la  historia  de  Venezuela,  Cura- 
zao,  1887,  11,  19. 

5  Antepara,  Jose  Maria,  South  American  Emancipation;  Docu- 
ments, London,  1810,  185;  Eobertson,  Francisco  de  Miranda,  Am. 
Hist.  Assn.,  1907,  1,  225;  Depons,  1,  150. 


THE   STATE  OF  VENEZUELA  317 

court  **to  refrain  from  sanguinary  measures,  to 
exercise  towards  those  who  were  concerned  in  that 
affair  all  the  leniency  which  their  fidelity  deserved, 
and  not  to  punish  as  a  crime  what  might  be  only 
the  effect  of  seduction  and  ignorance."®  This 
recommendation  may  have  caused  fewer  to  suffer 
capital  punishment  than  otherwise  might  have 
been  executed ;  still  ninety  were  sentenced  in  May 
and  June,  1799;  some  to  be  hanged  and  some  to 
be  imprisoned  in  irons,  and  some  condemned  to 
deportation/ 

IV 

There  appears  to  be  no  authoritative  state- 
ment of  the  number  of  Venezula's  inhabitants  at 
the  end  of  the  century.  The  guesses  range  from 
728,000  upwards.  This  is  Depons'  estimate, 
whose  distribution  recognizes  two-tenths  as 
whites,  three-tenths  as  slaves,  four-tenths  as  the 
descendants  of  freedmen,  and  one-tenth  as  In- 
dians. Somewhat  more  than  two-thirds  of  the 
whole  population,  or  500,000,  lived  in  the  province 
of  Venezuela,  while  100,000  of  the  remainder 
occupied  the  territory  of  Maracaibo.  From  this 
estimate  it  appears  that  the  majority  of  the  whole 
was  composed  of  members  of  the  colored  races. 
The  bulk  of  the  real  property  in  both  the  towns 
and  the  country  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Creoles, 

6  Depons,  1,  150. 

7  Gonzalez  Guinan,  Francisco,  Historia  contempordnea  de  Vene- 
zuela, Caracas,  1909,  1,  13. 


318  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

while  the  Spaniards  controlled  the  commerce  and 
held  the  political  power.  The  possession  of  the 
public  wealth  by  one  of  two  antagonistic  classes, 
and  the  public  power  by  the  other,  furnished  the 
conditions  of  an  inevitable  conflict,  a  conflict 
involving  not  merely  political  but  also  economical 
questions.® 

The  Creoles  by  reason  of  their  wealth  had 
become  influential  in  all  matters  except  the  affairs 
of  the  actual  government.  Many  of  them  had 
devoted  much  time  to  the  cultivation  of  their 
minds,  and,  ''by  reason  of  their  travels,  had  be- 
come informed  of  the  most  rcent  ideas  and  events 
of  Europe. ' '  Their  wealth  moreover  made  it  pos- 
sible for  them  to  gratify  their  desire  for  display.^ 
Dauxion  observed  that  "the  luxury  of  European 
capitals  is  found  in  the  town  of  Caracas,  and  a 
refinement  or  exaggeration  of  their  politeness, 
which  partakes  of  the  Spanish  gravity,  and  the 
voluptious  manner  of  the  Creoles.  It  may  be  said 
that  their  manners  are  a  mixture  of  those  of  Paris 
and  those  of  the  large  towns  of  Italy;  the  same 
taste  for  dress,  sumptuous  furniture,  ceremonious 
visits,  balls,  shows,  music,  and  even  for  painting, 
which  is  in  its  infancy. ' "° 

In  spite  of  the  habit  of  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment  to   discriminate   against   the   Creoles   with 

8  Level,  L.  D.,  Historia  patria,  Caracas,  1911,  247,  248. 

9  Eivas,  Angel  Cesar,  Origines  de  la  independencia  de  Vene- 
zuela, Caracas,  1909,  70. 

10  Dauxion,  Jean  Francois,  BescripUon  of  Venezuela,  Trinidad, 
Margarita,  and  Tobago,  London,  1820,  189. 


THE   STATE  OF  VENEZUELA  319 

respect  to  offices  in  the  colonies,  there  was  devel- 
oped among  them,  in  the  later  decades  of  the  cen- 
tury, a  strong  sentiment  of  patriotism.  They  felt 
^'a  kind  of  pride  in  being  born  on  the  soil  of  the 
New  World.  "^^  Their  interest  in  Spain  as  the  i-- 
mother  country  declined,  and  they  fell  under  the 
influence  of  the  French.  They  imitated  French 
fashions,  and  were  ambitious  '*to  assimilate  their 
manners  to  those  of  the  French.'"-  When  the 
restrictions  on  the  importation  of  European  books 
was  relaxed,  there  was  a  demand  for  the  political 
writings  of  revolutionary  or  pre-revolutionary 
France.  The  Count  of  Segur,  after  his  sojourn 
in  the  United  States,  visited  Venezuela.  At  Vic- 
toria he  met  a  physician,  who  took  him  to  his 
house  and  showed  him  with  great  pleasure  the 
works  of  Rousseau  and  Raynal." 


Restrictions  on  immigration  were  also  relaxed. 
The  Council  of  the  Indies  by  an  edict  issued  in 
1783  removed  most  of  the  barriers :  any  for- 
eigner of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  might  estab- 
lish himself  in  the  colony.  It  protected,  for  a 
period  of  five  years,  inunigrants  from  debts  con- 
tracted in  the  countries  they  had  left."    But  from 

11  Depons,  112. 

i2Depons,   122. 

13  Meviories  ou  souvenirs  et  anecdotes,  1,  140. 

i4Dauxion,  326. 


320  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

such  immigrants  it  was  later  (1801)  proposed  to 
raise  a  revenue  by  imposing  a  tax  of  four  hun- 
dred dollars,  and  an  equal  amount  as  a  fee  for 
naturalization.  The  emigration  from  Spain  to 
Venezuela  during  this  period  did  not  exceed  one 
hundred  persons  annually.  Fewer  returned  to 
Spain,  thus  indicating  a  weakening  connection 
between  the  colony  and  the  mother  country. 

Following  the  subjection  of  Trinidad  to  Great 
Britain,  in  1797,  a  strong  tide  of  emigration  set 
from  the  lower  classes  of  that  island  towards 
Venezuela.  These  immigrants  were  not  only  with- 
out resources,  but  also  lacked  the  will  to  work. 
At  the  same  time  Caracas  became  the  goal  of  the 
unemployed  from  the  country.  They  came  either 
in  search  of  work  or  to  get  food  without  work. 
The  embarrassment  produced  by  the  large  num- 
ber of  vagabonds  and  beggars  was  so  great  that 
a  special  committee  of  the  consulado  was  formed 
to  investigate  the  subject.  After  due  considera- 
tion, the  prior  reported  that  the  first  evil  to  be 
remedied  was  that  concerning  the  agricultural 
laborers  and  the  elaboration  of  their  products; 
''for  even  in  the  actual  limited  state  of  the  har- 
vests not  enough  persons  are  found  to  gather 
them,  not  even  for  an  exorbitant  wage,  in  spite  of 
the  existing  abundance  of  idle  men. '  "^  Accustomed 
to  the  conditions  of  poverty,  they  preferred  them 
and  independence  to  the  mildest  form  of  labor  and 
its  attendant  restraints.     There  were  ten  thou- 

15  Level,  Historic  patria,  238. 


THE   STATE  OF  VENEZUELA  321 

sand  persons  in  the  capital  without  productive 
employment  adequate  for  their  maintenance. 
They  gathered  in  great  numbers  in  front  of  the 
episcopal  palace  Saturday,  twelve  hundred  ap- 
pearing as  public  beggars.  All  but  a  few  of  them 
were  able  to  work.  But  they  preferred  the  life 
of  vagabonds  to  engaging  in  any  continuous  and 
laborious  occupation. 

The  consulado  formed  a  plan  for  setting  aside 
the  evil.  It  was  to  collect  all  the  beggars  at  the 
door  of  the  bishop 's  palace  on  a  specified  day,  and 
at  all  other  places  where  they  were  accustomed 
to  resort  for  alms ;  to  have  them  examined  before 
a  judge  as  to  what  hindered  them  from  working 
in  the  fields.  Unemployed  persons,  found  co.m- 
petent  to  work,  were  sent  to  pueblos  in  charge  of 
local  officers,  who  assigned  them  to  estates  where 
laborers  were  needed,  but  with  the  special  recom- 
mendation that  they  should  be  treated  with 
humanity,  and  induced  to  become  willing  to  work. 
The  committee  considered  also  the  wages  that 
should  be  given  to  persons  forced  to  labor,  and 
concluded  that  they  should  be  adjusted  to  the  cost 
of  subsistence,  varying  with  the  changes  in  the 
price  of  important  articles  of  food. 

The  captain-general  accepted  this  project;  the 
beggars  were  rounded  up;  and  the  vagabonds, 
who  knew  what  awaited  them,  left  Caracas  to 
work  according  to  their  pleasure,  rather  than 
under  compulsion.  Freed  from  the  useless  con- 
sumers, the  authorities  undertook  to  supply  the 


322  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

city  with  needed  provisions.  One  of  the  measures 
taken  was  to  prohibit  the  exportation  of  food  from 
La  Guayra." 


VI 

The  regulation  of  the  trade  with  colonial  ports 
had  passed  in  large  measure  to  the  local  authori- 
ties. The  laws  providing  for  the  exportation  of 
products  to  the  colonies  near  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
made  permission  for  such  exportation  to  depend 
on  the  assent  of  the  intendant."  It  was  in  the 
exercise  of  this  power  that  Captain-General  Vas- 
concelos,  supported  by  the  intendant,  undertook 
to  relieve  the  distress  of  Caracas  by  opening  the 
port  of  La  Guayra  for  the  importation  of  food 
from  neutral  nations.  But  their  effort  was  not 
hopefully  successful.  The  price  of  corn  was  eight 
times  as  high  as  the  normal  price ;  still  few  ships 
came  to  the  port.  The  British  fleet  did  not  permit 
ships  to  depart  from  Spain ;  not  even  those  carry- 
is  Level,  Historia  patria,  239. 

To  these  economic  disturbances  there  were  added  serious  social 
embarrassments,  violations  of  local  traditions,  and  interference 
with  the  long-standing  prerogatives  of  the  white  element  of  the 
population.  Under  the  royal  decree  of  August  3,  1801,  one  might 
legitimate  a  son  for  a  small  payment  of  money;  he  might  become 
an  hidalgo  or  obtain  a  Castilian  title  (titulo  de  Castilla)  without 
the  applicant  being  obliged  to  make  known  the  services  he  had 
rendered.  He  might  acquire  the  distinction  involved  in  the  right 
to  prefix  Don  to  his  name;  and  for  one  hundred  and  twenty -five 
dollars  a  negro  might  whiten  himself,  or  become  legally  a  white 
man. — Level,  Historia  Patria,  236. 
17  Depons,  1,  XXVII. 


THE   STATE  OF  VENEZUELA  323 

ing  the  mails.  The  mail  that  arrived  on  the  20th 
of  February,  1799,  was  the  first  to  arrive  for  four- 
teen months/^ 

Barcelona  and  Cumana,  however,  continued 
an  advantageous  trade  with  the  colonies,  and  were 
supplied  with  food,  while  Caracas  suffered  want. 
Trinidad,  moreover,  after  it  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  British,  became  a  depot  of  large  stores  of 
British  wares.  At  the  same  time  it  became  a 
market  for  a  large  contraband  trade,  rendered 
especially  flouishing  by  the  practice  of  selling  on 
credit.^^  British  smugglers,  principally  residents 
of  the  island  of  Trinidad,  purchased  three-fifths  of 
what  Venezuela  had  to  sell,  and  paid  in  wares  of 
British  manufacture.^" 

During  this  period  of  economic  disturbance 
the  political  affairs  fell  into  confusion.  There  was 
a  strong  drift  towards  decentralization.  The 
cabildos  in  the  provinces  enlarged  their  powers 
to  an  unprecedented  degree,  extending  their 
authority  over  all  departments  of  social  control 
except  the  military.-^  The  captain-general  re- 
garded the  future  with  evil  foreboding.  Address- 
ing a  council  of  war  at  Caracas  on  the  21st  of 
November,  1798,  he  said:  "Our  situation,  gentle- 
men, is  truly  deplorable !  An  expedition  threatens 
the  whole  coast,  and  all  the  coast  is  without  de- 
fense; and  the  king's  fleets,  blockaded  in  his  ports, 

18  Level,  Eistoria  patria,  236. 

19  Level,  HistoHa  patria,  235. 
20Dauxion,  131. 

21  Depons,  11,  36. 


324  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

cannot  come  to  our  support.  And  the  people, 
already  wearied  with  our  government,  look  up  to 
the  English  as  their  protectors  and  friends /'^^ 

The  central  figure  in  the  negotiations  relating 
to  the  threatened  expedition  was  Francisco  de 
Miranda,  who  had  been  trained  in  Spain.  After 
he  left  the  Spanish  service,  much  of  his  activity 
was  directed  to  a  project  to  supplant  Spanish  rule 
with  a  government  having  a  revolutionary  origin. 
His  persuasion  was  effective;  even  Catharine  of 
Russia  became  interested  in  his  undertaking,  and 
expressed  her  determination  to  support  the  inde- 
pendence of  South  America.  She,  moreover,  by  a 
circular  letter  to  her  ambassadors  in  Europe, 
ordered  them  to  accord  to  him  their  assistance 
and  protection  whenever  he  might  need  it.^^ 

VII 

At  a  conference  at  Hollwood,  on  the  14th  of 
February,  1790,  Miranda  presented  his  project  to 
Mr.  Pitt,  who  approved  of  it,  but  expressed  his 
inability  to  assist  in  its  execution  except  in  case 
of  war  with  Spain.  While  the  Nootka  sound  con- 
troversy threatened  to  lead  to  war,  Miranda  urged 
his  plan  for  the  emancipation  of  Spanish  America. 
In  September,  1791,  he  presented  to  the  British 
minister  the  outline  of  a  government  he  ' '  thought 
proper    to    be    introduced    into    South    America 

22Antepara,  189. 
23  Antepara,  15,  41. 


MIRANDA'S    EXPEDITION  325 

according  to  the  principles  of  Freedom  and  Inde- 
pendency. '  '^* 

It  was  proposed  to  enlist  the  sympathy  of  the 
Indians,  who  had  not  ceased  to  regret  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  ancient  state,  by  reviving  the  title  of 
Inca  for  the  person  holding  the  executive  power 
and  serving  as  the  hereditary  head  of  the  federal 
empire.  The  senate  was  to  be  composed  of 
caciques  or  senators,  appointed  by  the  inca  for 
life.  The  members  of  the  lower  house  were  to  be 
chosen  by  popular  election.  The  inca  was  to  ap- 
point distinguished  jurists  to  be  judges,  who  would 
hold  office  for  life,  unless  removed  by  impeach- 
ment. Among  other  officers  with  titles  borrowed 
from  ancient  Rome,  two  censors  were  to  be  nom- 
inated by  the  citizens  and  confirmed  by  the  inca. 
They  were  to  watch  over  the  morals  of  the  sen- 
ators, of  the  youth,  and  of  teachers.  The  doctrine 
of  the  relation  of  statute  law  to  the  constitution 
was  evidently  borrowed  from  the  United  States. 
No  law  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  constitution 
would  be  valid.  The  plan  for  amending  the  pro- 
posed constitution  was  also  clearly  drawn  from 
the  United  States.  Although  the  proposed  state 
was  to  be  a  federation,  no  mention  was  made  in 
the  constitution  of  the  subordinate  political  organ- 
izations or  their  relation  to  the  supreme  govern- 
ment. But  elaborate  provision  was  made  for  the 
period  of  transition  until  the  establishment  of  the 
permanent  government. 

24  Miranda  to  Pitt,  September  8,  1791.     Am.  Hist.  Bev.,  VII, 
F.  13. 


326  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

Miranda 's  design  was  to  obtain  the  support  of 
the  United  States  in  order  to  supplement  that 
expected  from  Great  Britain;  but  his  letters  to 
General  Knox  and  Alexander  Hamilton  brought 
no  satisfactory  results.  Great  Britain  continued 
to  be  moved  by  the  ambition  to  extend  her  power 
in  America  at  the  expense  of  Spain,  and  Spain's 
declaration  of  war  in  1796  appeared  to  oifer  a 
favorable  occasion  for  attaining  the  desired  end. 
The  intrigues  of  Blount  supported  for  a  short 
time  the  hope  of  acquiring  Florida  and  Louisiana, 
but  the  expulsion  of  Blount  from  the  senate  of  the 
United  States  nullified  all  expectations  of  advan- 
tage in  that  direction.  It  was  known  in  Spain 
that  Miranda  was  interested  in  the  British  enter- 
prises, and  the  king  admonished  the  viceroy  of 
New  Spain,  the  captain-general  of  Yucutan,  and 
the  captain-general  of  Caracas  to  be  on  their 
guard  against  the  machinations  of  the  conspirator 
and  the  undertakings  of  the  British. 

After  the  capture  of  Trinidad,  the  British  sec- 
retary of  war  directed  Thomas  Picton,  the  gover- 
nor and  commander  of  the  island,  to  keep  the 
inhabitants  of  the  neighboring  part  of  the  conti- 
nent under  careful  observation,  and  to  assure 
them  of  succor  from  his  Britannic  Majesty,  when- 
ever they  were  disposed  to  renounce  the  rule  of 
^  Spain.  The  course  pursued  by  Picton  constituted 
a  distinct  propaganda  of  revolution;  and  by  his 
presentation  of  the  advantages  of  holding  Caracas 
and  Santa  Thome,  he  sought  to  induce  the  British 


MIRANDA'S    EXPEDITION  327 

government  to  adopt  an  aggressive  policy.  He 
declared  "it  would  be  no  difficult  matter  to  sub- 
vert the  Spanish  government  in  the  provinces  of 
Cumana  and  Caracas,  the  example  and  effects  of 
which  would  shake  their  empire  over  the  whole 
continent,  and  would  open  immediate  as  well 
as  immense  commercial  advantages  to  Great 
Britain.""^ 

Miranda  continued  his  negotiations  with  Great 
Britain  in  December,  1797,  announcing  himself  as 
the  representative  of  a  junta  said  to  be  composed 
of  deputies  from  the  principal  provinces  of  Span- 
ish America.  He  requested  that  Great  Britain 
would  support  the  movement  for  emancipation 
with  twenty-seven  ships  of  the  line,  8000  infantry, 
and  2000  cavalry,  and  suggested,  as  a  means  for 
preserving  liberty,  an  alliance  of  Great  Britain, 
the  United  States,  and  Spanish  America.  At  the 
same  time  it  was  proposed  that  inter-oceanic 
navigation  should  be  provided  for  both  at  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  and  by  way  of  Lake  Nica- 
ragua. The  next  month  Miranda  attempted  to 
enter  into  relations  with  the  United  States.  He 
visited  Rufus  King,  and  through  him  he  hoped 
to  approach  Hamilton.  Later  he  unfolded  to 
King  his  plans,  and  emphasized  the  advantages 
England  and  the  United  States  would  enjoy  in  the 
trade  of  Spanish  America. 

25  Picton  to  Dundas,  September  18,  1797,  quoted  by  Eobertson 
in  Annual  Report  of  the  Am.  Hist.  Assn.,  1907,  1,  315. 


328  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 


VIII 

The  policy  of  the  British  government  was  com- 
municated to  King  by  Granville :  "  If  Spain  should 
be  able  to  preserve  her  independence  and  prevent 
a  revolution  of  her  government,  they  should  not 
enter  into  the  project  respecting  South  America; 
but  if  it  was  really  to  be  apprehended  that  Spain 
should  fall  beneath  the  control  of  France,  then  it 
was  their  intention  to  endeavor  to  prevent  France 
from  gaining  to  their  cause  the  resources  of  South 
America.  In  this  event  they  should  immediately 
open  their  views  and  commence  a  negotiation  upon 
the  subject  with  the  United  States.  At  present 
they  deemed  it  impolitic  to  engage  in  the  plan  of 
Miranda. '  '^^ 

The  British  government,  however,  continued 
to  keep  in  mind  the  possibility  of  an  expedition  to 
South  America,  and  to  make  preparations  for  it. 
Miranda  was  solicitous  to  learn  the  decision 
reached  in  England,  and  at  the  same  time  sought 
to  enlist  the  interest  of  the  administration  in 
America.  Hamilton  was  not  enthusiastic  over 
either  the  plan  of  the  proposed  undertaking  or  its 
chief  advocate;  he  did  not  hesitate  to  call  him 
"an  intriguing  adventurer.""  King  endeavored 
to  persuade  the  United  States  to  action  by  affirm- 
ing that  South  America  was  on  the  eve  of  revo- 

26  King,  Charles  R.,  Life  and  correspondence  of  Bufus  King. 
New  York,  1896,  111,  561. 

27  Report  of  Am.  Hist.  Assn.,  1907,  1,  327. 


MIRANDA'S    EXPEDITION  329 

lution,  and  that  if  England  did  not  assist  at  the 
movement  the  work  would  be  done  by  France  to 
the  great  disadvantage  of  the  United  States. 
Four  months  after  this,  Hamilton  appears  to  have 
changed  his  view.-^  He  at  least  wrote  favorably 
of  *'the  enterprise  in  question.  I  wish  it  much  to 
be  undertaken,  but  I  should  be  glad  that  the  prin- 
cipal agency  was  in  the  United  States — they  to 
furnish  the  whole  land  force  necessary.  "^^ 

The  project  that  was  forming  involved  the 
cooperation  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  in  revolutionizing  South  America.  But  it 
failed  to  ripen  with  sufficient  rapidity  to  satisfy 
Miranda's  extravagant  imagination.  In  his  dis- 
appointment, he  entertained  for  a  brief  period  the 
idea  of  going  to  Trinidad,  where  Governor  Picton 
had  formed  a  plan  to  begin  the  revolution  by  an 
attack  on  the  town  of  Cumana.  The  British- 
American  cooperative  plan  to  emancipate  South 
America  was  wrecked.  Adams  and  Pinckney 
opposed  it ;  Great  Britain  was  withheld  from  it  by 
her  engagements  on  the  continent,  and  by  her  fear 
of  causing  the  scenes  of  the  French  Revolution  to 
be  repeated  in  America.  The  ministers,  however, 
thought  of  this  failure  to  act  as  only  a  postpone- 
ment of  the  project.  This  was  again  taken  up  in 
1799.  In  the  subsequent  negotiations.  Manual 
Gual,  the  exiled  leader  of  the  conspiracy  of  1797, 

28  King   to   Piekney,   Marshall,   and   Gerry,   London,   April    2, 
1798.    Life  and  Correspondence,  11,  300. 

29  Hamilton  to  King,  Aug.   22,   1798,  King,  Life  and  Corre- 
spondence, 11,  659. 


330  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

appears  in  correspondence  with  Miranda  and  the 
British  commander  of  the  Windward  Islands. 

Later  projects  for  British  participation  were 
defeated  by  the  opposition  of  Granville,  yet 
Miranda  was  retained  in  England  against  his  will 
when  he  wished  to  go  to  France,  where  he  hoped 
his  plans  might  receive  more  favorable  consider- 
ation. The  treaty  of  Amiens,  March  27,  1802, 
halted  all  revolutionary  negotiations;  but  the 
prospect  of  renewed  hostilities  with  France  and 
Spain  in  1803  caused  Miranda's  schemes  to  be 
revived.  And  soon  after  this  the  plans  for  attack- 
ing South  America  took  a  wider  range.  Sir  Home 
Popham  urged  the  government  to  send  an  expe- 
dition against  Buenos  Aires.  Preparations  for 
such  an  expedition  were  made  in  1804,  but  the 
project  was  suddenly  abandoned;  England  and 
Spain  were  still  nominally  at  peace.  Again  dis- 
appointed, Miranda  determined  to  go  to  Trinidad, 
taking  with  him  such  arms  and  munitions  as 
would  be  needed  in  beginning  a  revolution.  But 
this  project  also  failed. 

In  1804  Spain  declared  war  on  Great  Britain. 
Pitt  returned  to  power,  and  plans  for  an  attack 
on  South  America  found  new  advocates.  Sir 
Home  Popham  was  chosen  to  conunand  an 
expedition  against  Buenos  Aires,  while  Miranda 
continued  to  urge  his  plan  for  a  revolution  in 
Venezuela.  The  Spanish  minister  in  London 
communicated  to  his  government  information 
concerning  the  designs   of  the  British   and  the 


MIRANDA'S    EXPEDITION  331 

preparations  for  an  attack  on  Buenos  Aires  were 
set  aside  as  well  as  the  proposition  to  assist 
Miranda.  Thus  after  negotiating  with  the  British 
government  for  fifteen  years,  Miranda  was 
doomed  to  see  all  his  schemes  come  to  naught.  He 
made  his  will,  and  prepared  to  go  to  the  United 
States.^'' 

IX 

Miranda  arrived  in  New  York  in  November, 
1805.  For  several  months  he  was  engaged  in 
efforts  to  induce  the  government  of  the  United 
States  to  lend  its  assistance  to  his  revolutionary 
undertaking.  After  his  unsuccessful  attempts  in 
this  quarter,  he  entered  into  relations  with  Smith 
and  Ogden  in  New  York.  Mr.  Ogden  offered  the 
ship  Leander,  that  had  been  engaged  in  the  trade 
between  New  York  and  Santo  Domingo.  He  also 
promised  to  place  at  his  service  another  ship,  then 
at  Santo  Domingo,  called  the  Emperor.  The 
Leander  put  to  sea  on  the  2nd  of  February,  1806.^^ 

In  his  charge  to  the  jury  in  the  trial  of  William 
S.  Smith,  Judge  Talmadge  said  that  the  Leander 
' '  had  a  very  crowded  cargo,  and  was  laden  almost 

30  Miranda 's  negotiations  with  the  British  government  are 
presented  at  length  in  Francisco  de  Miranda  and  the  revolution- 
ising of  Spanish  America,  by  William  Spence  Kobertson,  in 
Annual  Beport  of  the  Am.  Hist.  Assn.,  1907,  1,  191-528. 

31  Miranda  and  the  British  Admiralty,  1804-1806,  containing 
"Memorandum  by  Captain  Sir  Home  Popham"  and  correspon- 
dence concerning  Miranda 's  Expedition  of  1806,  in  Am.  Rist.  Rev., 
VI,  508-530. 


332  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

entirely  with  articles  of  warlike  preparation. 
From  180  to  200  men  were  engaged  in  the  enter- 
prise, several  of  them  immediately  after  took 
military  title  and  rank,  and  all  were  submitting 
to  subordination  and  discipline;  eleven  or  twelve 
hundred  suits  of  soldiers'  uniforms,  about  six 
hundred  swords  and  cuttlasses,  and  a  great  num- 
ber of  belts,  pouches,  and  cartridge  boxes,  about 
four  thousand  five  hundred  pikes,  a  number  of 
muskets,  horsemen's  pistols  and  blunderbuses, 
all  of  which  were  principally  in  boxes  or  sacks. 
Exclusive  of  her  complement  of  seventeen  guns, 
the  Leander  had  on  board  about  thirty-four  can- 
non, with  several  field  carriages,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  casks  of  gunpowder,  and  a  quantity  of 
balls  suited  to  cannon  and  muskets  of  different 
caliber. '  '^^ 

Knowledge  of  Miranda's  departure  provoked 
unwonted  activity  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish 
minister  to  the  United  States.  He  dispatched 
accounts  of  this  event  to  the  captain-general  of 
Caracas,  to  the  viceroy  of  New  Spain,  and  to  the 
governors  of  Cuba  and  the  Floridas.  By  giving 
the  number  of  men  in  the  expedition  as  1200  in- 
stead of  180  or  200,  he  alarmed  the  inhabitants  of 
the  provinces  that  appeared  to  be  open  to  invasion. 
He  also  protested  against  the  attitude  of  the 
United  States  government  in  regard  to  the  expe- 
dition.    The   French   also   found   the   action   or 

32  Lloyd,  Thomas,  The  trials  of  William  S.  Smith  and  Samuel 
G.  Ogden,  New  York,  1807,  238, 


MIRANDA'S    EXPEDITION  333 

inaction  of  the  government  blameworthy ;  and  the 
protests  of  these  two  nations  had  doubtless  much 
influence  in  bringing  Smith  and  Ogden  to  trial; 
but  public  sentiment  was  in  favor  of  the  accused, 
and  their  acquittal  was  sometimes  interpreted  as 
a  verdict  against  the  government. 

The  Leander  was  halted  by  the  British  ship 
Cleopatra  on  the  12th  of  February,  and  was 
obliged  to  surrender  to  Captain  Wight  about  a 
score  of  her  crew.  Miranda  visited  the  British 
vessel  and  presented  to  the  captain  his  papers 
showing  the  relations  he  had  sustained  to  the  Brit- 
ish government.  He  also  caused  a  number  of 
Americans  recently  captured  by  the  British  to  be 
released  and  added  to  the  forces  of  the  expedition. 
Having  been  permitted  to  proceed,  Miranda  now 
organized  his  one  hundred  and  eighty  men  as  the 
"Columbian  Army."  He  caused  the  arms  and 
equipment  on  board  to  be  repaired  and  made  fit 
for  service.  Finding  at  Jacquemel  that  the 
Emperor  would  not  join  the  expedition,  Miranda 
secured  two  schooners,  the  Bacchus  and  the  Bee, 
and  transferred  to  them  a  number  of  his  men,  in 
spite  of  their  mutinous  protest.  The  three  vessels 
reached  the  island  of  Aruba  on  the  11th  of  April. 
The  troops  were  landed  and  drilled,  and  five  days 
later  they  continued  their  voyage.  Guevara  Vas- 
concelos,  the  captain-general  of  Caracas,  warned 
by  Yrujo,  had  taken  measures  for  defense,  and 
sent  abroad  information  of  the  proposed  invasion. 
On  the  2nd  of  May,  Lieutenant  Brierly,  who  had 


334  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

been   at   Cumana  on   the   20th   and   the   21st   of 
April  wrote  to  Rear- Admiral  Cochrane : 

"The  country  is  in  a  dreadful  state,  and  embargo 
on  every  vessel  on  this  coast,  no  person  suffered  to  quit 
his  dwelling  on  pain  of  death,  every  person  under  arms, 
that  is  able  to  bear  them,  the  prisons  full  of  Miranda's 
friends,  and  in  short  everything  in  the  greatest  confusion 
imaginable.  In  the  meantime  no  person  has  any  knowl- 
edge of  the  present  situation  of  Miranda,  nor  is  it  even 
conjectured  in  which  part  of  the  "West  Indies  he  is ;  this 
I  am  certain,  he  has  a  multitude  of  friends  who  will 
join  him  the  moment  he  appears.  "^^ 

On  the  28th  of  April  the  vessels  of  the  expedi- 
tion fell  in  with  two  armed  Spanish  ships,  a  brig 
of  twenty-two  guns,  and  a  schooner  of  eighteen 
guns.  After  a  few  shots  had  been  exchanged,  the 
Leander  ran  away,  and  the  persons  on  the  other 
vessels  were  taken  prisoners  and  landed  at  Puerto 
Cavallo.  That  night  they  were  ''cramed  into  a 
small  dungeon  shackeled  two  and  two."^* 

After  the  loss  of  the  schooners,  the  Leander 
went  to  the  island  of  Granada,  and  then  to  Barba- 
dos, arriving  at  the  latter  island  in  the  first  week 
in  June.  Cochrane,  who  was  stationed  there, 
replied  to  Miranda's  petition  for  assistance,  that 
he  would  furnish  a  number  of  small  vessels  and 

33  Am.  Hist.  'Rev.,  VI,  522. 

34  Diary  and  Letters  of  Henry  Ingersoll,  in  Am.  Hist.  Bev.,  Ill, 
681;  (Sherman,  John  A.)  ^  general  account  of  Miranda's  Expe- 
dition, including  the  trial  and  execution  of  ten  of  his  officers,  New 
York,  1808,  giving  also  some  account  of  the  fate  of  the  other 
prisoners;  Smith,  Moses,  History  and  adventures  and  sufferings  of 
Moses  Smith,  Albany,  1814. 


MIRANDA'S    EXPEDITION  335 

such  additional  support  as  he  might  be  able  to  give. 
He  also  extended  to  him  permission  to  enlist  re- 
cruits in  Barbados  and  Trinidad.  Miranda's 
petition  to  General  Bowyer,  of  the  British  land 
forces  of  the  Leeward  Islands,  called  forth  a  more 
cautious  reply.  The  general  proposed,  before 
making  a  decision,  to  receive  instructions  from 
Great  Britain.  Miranda  was,  however,  not  dis- 
posed to  wait  for  such  instructions,  and  left  Bar- 
bados, accompanied  by  three  small  British  vessels. 
At  Trinidad  the  little  squadron  was  increased  by 
the  addition  of  six  or  seven  other  ships.  The 
vessels  of  ''the  expedition  attached  to  General 
Miranda"  were  by  order  of  Admiral  Cochrane, 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Campbell.  They 
arrived  in  the  bay  of  La  Vela  de  Coro  on  the  1st 
of  August.  The  troops  landed  on  the  3rd,  and 
took  the  forts  and  the  town  of  Coro.  Listead  of 
the  popular  uprising  in  favor  of  emancipation,  the 
greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  fled,  carrying  with 
them  whatever  property  they  could  take  away. 

Miranda's  proclamation,  setting  forth  his  de- 
sign with  respect  to  the  form  of  the  government 
to  be  established,  and  a  "letter  to  the  Spanish 
Americans"  produced  no  assuring  effect.  More- 
over, his  letters  to  Admiral  Cochrane,  Admiral 
Dacres,  of  the  Jamaica  naval  station,  and  Sir 
Eyre  Costo,  the  governor  of  Jamaica,  brought  no 
favorable  reply,  except  that  Admiral  Cochrane 
proposed  to  continue  such  assistance  as  the  small 
squadron  under  Captain  Campbell  could  furnish. 


336  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

In  the  meantime  the  oiGficers  of  the  province 
had  sent  forth  a  call  for  troops.  The  merchants 
exaggerated  reports  concerning  Miranda's  forces 
.and  the  designs  of  the  leader;  and  in  the  face  of 
the  increasing  numbers  of  the  enemy  the  invaders 
found  it  advisable  to  withdraw  to  the  island  of 
Aruba.  In  September  Captain  Dundas,  of  the 
British  ship  Elephant,  warned  Miranda  that  the 
protection  of  the  British  naval  force  would  be 
withdrawn  unless  he  retired  from  Aruba.  On  the 
21st  of  October,  Miranda,  with  some  of  his  officers, 
arrived  at  Granada.  Meanwhile  Vasconcelos, 
ignorant  of  the  extent  of  Great  Britain's  partici- 
pation in  the  revolutionizing  projects,  continued 
to  maintain  the  captaincy-general  in  a  state  of 
tense  anxiety  with  respect  to  the  next  move  of  the 
champions  of  emancipation.  But  at  Granada,  the 
military  uniforms  and  the  flag  of  the  expedition 
disappeared;  the  Leander  was  sold;  the  insig- 
nificant remnant  of  the  troops  received  a  partial 
payment;  and  how  to  meet  or  avoid  his  other 
obligations  constituted  for  Miranda  one  of  the 
residuary  cares  of  the  campaign.^^ 

35  An  intimate  and  unsympathetic  account  of  the  expedition  is 
presented  in  Biggs'  letters:  The  History  of  Don  Francisco  de 
Miranda's  attempt  to  effect  a  Bevolution  in  South  America, 
Boston,  1811. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  BRITISH  CAPTURE  AND  LOSS  OF 
BUENOS  AIRES 

The  trade  of  Buenos  Aires.  II.  Plans  of  Great 
Britain  respecting  South  America.  III.  The  Brit- 
ish advance  and  capture  of  the  city.  IV.  Liniers 
and  the  overthrow  of  Beresford.  V.  The  cabildo 
and  Liniers  in  power.  VI.  British  reinforcements 
and  the  recall  of  Popham.  VII.  The  final  British 
attack  and  failure. 


The  second  attempt  to  overthrow  from  without 
the  rule  of  Spain  in  South  America  was  directed  / 
against  the  viceroyalty  of  Rio  de  la  Plata.  After 
the  extension  of  commercial  freedom  in  1778, 
there  was  a  noteworthy  increase  of  shipping  at 
Buenos  Aires.  In  the  three  years  from  1792  to 
1795  forty-seven  vessels  left  that  port,  and  fifty- 
three  vessels  arrived  from  Spain.  The  value  of 
the  exportations  and  the  importations  for  this 
period  amounted  to  somewhat  more  than  $8,- 
000,000.  There  was  also  a  great  increase  in  the 
internal  trade.  Mendoza  and  San  Juan  sold 
annually  large  quantities  of  wine  and  brandy; 
and  Tucuman  had  an  extensive  trade  in  hides  and 
textile  fabrics.     Paraguay's  trade  was  chiefly  in 


338  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

mate,  tobacco,  and  lumber.  Of  the  mate  exported, 
Chile  consumed  about  4,000,000  pounds,  and  paid 
for  it  with  exported  gold  and  silver. 

The  mules  sent  to  Peru  from  the  eastern  prov- 
inces of  the  viceroyalty  were  driven  by  easy  stages 
to  Salta,  where  they  were  kept  over  the  winter; 
and  in  the  spring  they  were  taken  to  Potosi.  In 
the  province  of  Buenos  Aires  they  cost  at  that 
time  between  three  and  four  dollars  a  head,  but 
at  Potosi  they  brought  eight  or  nine  dollars  a 
head.  In  case  they  were  taken  farther  into  the 
country,  they  brought  a  larger  price,  amounting 
in  some  places  to  forty  or  fifty  dollars  apiece. 
They  were  required  in  Peru  for  use  in  the  mines, 
but  the  hard  conditions  under  which  they  worked 
caused  many  of  them  to  be  short-lived,  thus  mak- 
ing the  demand  for  them  greater  than  it  would 
have  been  if  they  had  been  employed  under  more 
favorable  circumstances. 

Cordova,  Salta,  and  Jujui  lay  on  the  main 
route  from  Buenos  Aires  to  Peru,  and  the  inhab- 
itants of  these  towns,  by  furnishing  means  of 
transportation,  derived  important  advantages 
from  this  overland  trade.  The  goods  were  gen- 
erally carried  in  carts  drawn  by  four  or  more 
oxen;  and  the  freight  rate  from  Buenos  Aires  to 
Jujui  was  four  dollars  a  quintal,  or  approximately 
four  cents  a  pound.  For  transportation  beyond 
Jujui  mules  were  substituted  for  oxen  and  carts, 
and  the  rates  varied  according  to  the  season  and 
the  abundance  or  scarcity  of  mules. 


THE    BRITISH    IN    BUENOS  AIRES        339 

The  early  policy  to  make  Buenos  Aires  de- 
pendent on  Lima  for  European  wares  was  checked, 
as  has  been  indicated  already,  by  the  rise  of 
contraband  trade  with  the  Portuguese;  and  the 
commercial  emancipation  of  the  eastern  provinces 
from  Peru  was  finally  completed  by  the  increase 
of  importations  at  Buenos  Aires  directly  from 
European  ports.  In  this  later  trade  with  Peru, 
therefore,  Buenos  Aires,  having  a  cheaper  source 
from  which  to  obtain  European  wares,  received  in 
return  for  her  exportations  large  quantities  of 
gold  and  silver,  products  of  the  Peruvian  mines. 

The  trade  between  Buenos  Aires  and  the 
western  coast  by  sea  was  inconsiderable.  Now 
and  then  a  vessel  arrived  at  Montevideo  from 
Callao  with  wares  intended  for  shipment  to  Spain. 
Ships  were  also  occasionally  sent  from  Monte- 
video to  Arica  with  quicksilver  for  the  mines,  and 
they  carried  at  the  same  time  small  quantities  of 
mate  and  tallow. 

The  principal  trade  of  Buenos  Aires  with  Chile 
was  through  the  province  of  Cuyo,  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  Andes.  The  exports  from  Chile  and 
Cuyo  to  the  eastern  provinces  were  woollen  goods, 
particularly  ponchos,  wines,  brandy,  and  oil; 
raisins  and  dried  peaches;  apples,  snuff,  and 
sugar;  and  copper,  gold,  and  cordage. 

The  enlarged  freedom  of  commerce  gave  an 
increased  value  to  the  products  of  the  herds  of 
Eio  de  la  Plata.  Hides  and  salted  beef  could  now 
be  profitably  exported  in  the  numerous  vessels 


340  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

that  brought  European  wares  to  Buenos  Aires. 
The  wealth  of  the  inhabitants  increased  rapidly, 
and  justified  the  expenditure  of  large  sums  on 
private  houses;  and  the  viceroy  took  advantage 
of  this  prosperity  to  embellish  the  city  with 
important  public  buildings.  The  city  hall  and 
the  mint  were  begun  in  the  last  quarter  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

Buenos  Aires  had  previously  grown  very  slowly 
under  the  severe  restriction  which  Spain  had 
placed  upon  her  trade.  In  1608  the  town  con- 
tained 2000  inhabitants.  During  the  following 
one  hundred  and  seventy  years  its  population 
increased  from  2000  to  24,205,  an  average  addition 
of  only  about  130  persons  a  year.  The  progress 
was  more  rapid  after  the  organization  of  the 
viceroyalty  and  the  establishment  of  commercial 
freedom.  The  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 
century  added  somewhat  more  than  15,000  per- 
sons to  the  city's  population,  so  that  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  nineteenth  century  Buenos  Aires 
contained  40,000  inhabitants,  and  46,000  in  1810.^ 

II 

The  British  government  had  contemplated  for 
a  long  time  the  conquest  of  some  part  of  South 
America.  It  was  solicitous  to  obtain  a  New  World 
market  as  compensation  for  the  loss  of  the  North 
American    colonies.      The    projects    of    Miranda 

1  Lopez,  V.  F.,  Historia  de  la  Bepuilica  Argentina,  Buenos 
Aires,  1883,  I,  cap.  XXVI. 


THE    BRITISH    IN    BUENOS  AIRES        341 

seemed  to  offer  an  opportunity  for  gaining  control 
of  Venezuela.  It  was  not  less  solicitous  to  prevent 
any  diminution  of  British  power  and  prestige  in 
the  East  Indies,  menaced  chiefly  by  the  Dutch  in 
possession  of  Cape  Colony. 

Preparations  for  a  campaign  against  South 
America  had  already  been  undertaken,  as  already 
suggested,  in  1804.  In  that  year  Sir  Home  Pop- 
ham  was  appointed  to  the  ship  Diadem,  "with  a 
view  of  cooperating  with  General  Miranda,  to  the 
extent  of  taking  advantage  of  any  of  his  proceed- 
ings, which  might  lead  to  our  obtaining  a  position 
on  the  continent  of  South  America,  favorable  to 
the  trade  of  this  country."^ 

The  point  to  be  aimed  at  in  the  projected 
attack  was  revealed  by  the  testimony  of  Lord 
Melville  at  the  trial  of  Popham. 

"At  all  times,"  he  said,  "and  in  every  conversation 
that  I  had  with  Mr.  Pitt  on  the  subject,  I  make  no  doubt 
Buenos  Aires  was  often  the  subject  of  discussion.  My 
reason  for  being  confident  in  that  opinion  is,  that  in  all 
the  considerations  I  ever  gave  to  the  subject  of  South 
America,  whether  the  attack  was  to  be  made  on  a  smaller 
or  larger  scale,  I  always  considered  the  Rio  de  la  Plata 
as  the  most  important  position  for  the  interest  of  Great 
Britain  upon  that  side  of  South  America. '  '^ 

The  proposed  attack  was  not  made  directly 
from  Great  Britain.  In  August,  1805,  an  expedi- 
tion to  the  Cape  sailed  from  Cork.     The  naval 

2  Lord  Melville,  head  of  the  Board  of  Admiralty ;  see  Minutes 
of  a  court-martial  for  the  Trial  of  Sir  Home  Popham,  London, 
1807,  139. 

3  Ibid.,  140. 


342  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

forces  were  under  the  command  of  Sir  Home 
Popham ;  General  David  Baird  commanded  a  land 
force  of  6600  men.  This  expedition  arrived  at  its 
destination  on  the  4th  of  January,  1806. 

The  Cape  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British 
without  great  cost,  and  soon  afterwards  it  was 
determined  to  make  an  attempt  on  Buenos  Aires. 
Sir  Home  Popham  and  Brigadier-General  Beres- 
ford  commanded  the  expedition  to  the  Eio  de  la 
Plata,  which  consisted  of  three  frigates,  three 
corvettes,  and  five  transports,  carrying  in  all  one 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  guns.  The  Board  of 
Admiralty  took  the  view  that  this  expedition  to 
Buenos  Aires  was  undertaken  by  the  officers  at 
the  Cape  without  any  superior  ''direction  or 
authority  whatever,"  leaving  the  Cape,  "which 
it  was  Sir  Home  Popham 's  duty  to  guard,  not 
only  exposed  to  attack  and  insult,  but  even  with- 
out the  means  of  affording  protection  to  the  trade 
of  his  Majesty's  subjects,  or  of  taking  possession 
of  any  ships  of  the  enemy,  which  might  have  put 
into  any  of  the  bays  or  harbors  of  the  Cape  or 
ports  adjacent."* 

Sir  Home  Popham  had  been  directed,  however, 
by  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the  Admiralty,  to 
send  a  frigate  to  cruise  on  the  east  coast  of  South 
America  between  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Rio  de  la 
Plata,  as  soon  as  he  should  have  accomplished  the 
object  of  the  expedition  on  which  he  was  about 
to  proceed,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  intelli- 

*  Admiralty  Order  in  Trial  of  Sir  Home  Popham,  4. 


THE    BRITISH    IN   BUENOS  AIRES       343 

gence  of  the  enemy's  motions,  in  order  that  he 
might  be  prepared  against  any  attack  they  might 
be  disposed  to  make  on  the  settlement.*^  And  in 
September  he  was  directed  from  the  Admiralty 
office  to  retain  all  the  transports  under  his  com- 
mand at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  after  the  reduc- 
tion of  that  settlement,  until  he  should  receive 
further  orders.® 

While  at  Portsmouth  in  1805,  Sir  Home  Pop- 
ham  had  received  information  of  the  weak  state 
of  the  garrison  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  ' '  This 
intelligence,"  he  said,  "appeared  to  me  so  impor- 
tant, not  only  from  the  advantage  to  be  derived 
from  the  capture  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  itself, 
but  from  the  facility  which  the  possession  of  that 
settlement  would  afford  to  the  projected  conquest 
of  the  dependencies  on  the  east  coast  of  South 
America,  that  I  lost  no  time  in  coming  up  to 
town  and  communicating  it  to  Mr.  Pitt."  The 
communication  was  made  through  Mr.  Sturges 
Bourne,  then  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  Treas- 
ury, whom  Mr.  Pitt  immediately  authorized  to 
make  further  inquiries  on  the  subject  "in  the 
quarter  from  which  the  communication  was  stated 
to  be  derived."  The  result  of  the  information 
obtained  by  this  means  "was  a  complete  confirma- 
tion of  the  statement  made  by  Sir  Home  Popham ; 
and  Mr.  Pitt  instantly  determined  to  take  the 
necessary  measures  for  the  execution  of  an  expe- 

5  John  Barrow  to  Sir  Home  Popham,  August  2,  1805;  see 
Trial,  17. 

6  Ibid.,  18. 


344  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

dition  against  the  Cape. ' '  The  suggestion  of  Sir 
Home  Popham  appears  thus  to  have  been  the 
origin  of  Pitt's  plan;  for  Sturges  Bourne  said 
before  the  court-martial:  "I  am  quite  sure  that 
Mr.  Pitt  had  no  such  expedition  in  his  contem- 
plation at  the  time  Sir  Home  Popham  made  his 
proposal,  and  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  any 
other  of  the  king's  ministers  had  such  an  object 
in  view."  But  whatever  their  origin,  Mr.  Pitt's 
views  with  respect  to  South  America  were  not 
confined  to  introducing  British  manufactures, 
but  took  a  wider  range. ^ 

The  origin  of  the  plan  to  take  Buenos  Aires 
which  was  carried  out  at  this  time  may  be  seen  in 
the  correspondence  produced  at  the  trial  of  Pop- 
ham. In  a  letter  written  by  Popham  to  William 
Marsden,  of  the  Admiralty  Office,  and  dated 
April  9,  1806,  he  announced  that,  on  account  of 
the  unsettled  weather,  he  proposed  to  remove  his 
squadron  from  its  position  in  Table  Bay,  and  that 
he  considered  the  coming  of  Admiral  Willeaumez 
very  improbable.  As  it  was  expected  that  the 
French  fleet  would  be  obliged  to  resort  to  Rio  de 
la  Plata  or  the  coast  of  Brazil  for  supplies,  he 
thought  "employing  the  squadron  in  cruising  a 
short  time  off  that  coast,  instead  of  remaining 
idle,  will  be  a  disposition  fraught  with  some 
advantages,  and  which  I  hope  will  appear  so 
evident  to  their  Lordships  as  to  induce  them  to 
approve  the  measure. ' '    Starting  on  the  10th,  the 

7  Trial  of  Sir  Home  Poplmm,  142,  146. 


THE    BRITISH    IN   BUENOS  AIRES       345 

lack  of  the  requisite  breeze  led  him  to  anchor  in 
the  outer  bay,  and  here  he  received  ''intelligence 
respecting  the  weak  state  of  defence  which  Monte- 
video and  Buenos  Aires  were  in."  With  this 
information,  confirming  what  he  had  already 
learned  from  other  sources,  he  "suggested  the 
expediency  of  sparing  a  few  troops  for  a  short 
time,  to  enable  us  to  bring  a  question  of  such 
importance  to  an  immediate  issue."*  Popham 
urged  this  undertaking,  "from  a  conviction  of 
the  great  and  splendid  benefit  which  the  country 
would  derive  by  a  conquest  of  such  a  nature  at 
this  moment."  Sir  David  Baird  after  consider- 
ing the  subject  seriously  and  consulting  with  Gen- 
eral Beresford  acceded  to  the  proposition,  and 
ordered  that  the  71st  regiment  should  be  em- 
barked under  the  direction  of  General  Beresford. 
The  main  advantage  of  the  conquest  suggested  at 
this  time  was  the  opportunity  "to  supply  several 
millions  of  inhabitants  with  the  manufactures  of 
the  United  Kingdom. '  '^ 

The  conquest,  moreover,  was  not  expected  to 
be  difficult,  for  Popham  was  convinced  as  the 
result  of  his  examinations  that  there  were  "not 
above  five  hundred  regular  troops  at  the  two 
places,  some  provincial  cavalry  and  militia;  that 
the  walls  of  Montevideo  are  in  a  very  ruinous 
state ;  and  the  inhabitants  disaffected  beyond  any 
calculation."     In   his   letter   of   April   13,   1806, 

8  Popham  to  William  Marsden,  April  13,  1806. 

9  Popham  to  William  Marsden,  April  30,  1806. 


346  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

Popliam  expressed  the  hope  that  his  superiors  in 
London  would  consider  the  undertaking  "as  far 
preferable  to  the  alternative  of  allowing  the 
squadron  to  moulder  away  its  native  energy,  by 
wintering  in  False  Bay,  and  eventually  become 
paralyzed. ' ' 

III 

While  on  the  voyage  Popham  had  a  plan  to 
take  Montevideo  as  soon  as  he  neared  the  coast, 
and  then  to  pass  on  to  Buenos  Aires.  But  infor- 
mation received  from  a  British  pilot  who  fell 
into  his  hands  as  he  entered  the  river  persuaded 
him  that  it  would  be  expedient  to  move  immedi- 
ately against  the  latter  city. 

Major-General  Baird  in  his  instructions  to 
Brigadier-General  Beresford  directed  him  to 
assume  the  office  of  lieutenant-governor,  "and  to 
draw  whatever  salary  and  allowances  may  have 
been  enjoyed  by  the  Spanish  Governor,  his  imme- 
diate predecessor,  until  His  Majesty  shall  be 
graciously  pleased  to  make  known  his  pleasure. '  '^° 

During  the  advance  of  the  British  the  city 
was  in  confusion,  and  the  authorities  displayed 
only  weakness  and  indecision.  After  the  vessels 
had  been  observed  entering  the  river,  Jose  de  la 
Pena,  the  chief  pilot  of  the  royal  fleet,  went  along 
the  coast  in  search  of  definite  information  con- 
cerning these  vessels.     On  the  night  of  the  23d 

10  Major-General  Baird  to  Eight  Hon.  Lord  Castlereagh,  April 
14,  1806,  Trial  of  Sir  Home  Popham,  59. 


THE    BRITISH    IN    BUENOS   AIRES        347 

of  June,  1806,  in  accordance  with  Viceroy  Sobre- 
monte's  orders,  he  reported  to  that  officer  at 
Buenos  Aires.  But  the  viceroy  refused  to  adopt 
Pena  's  advice,  and  held  that  the  vessels  were  only 
cruising,  and  had  not  come  to  attack  the  colony. 
On  the  24th,  Pena  returned  to  Ensenada  to  await 
the  viceroy's  orders.  At  daybreak,  on  the  25th, 
British  vessels  appeared  off  Buenos  Aires.  The 
viceroy  now  caused  a  call  to  arms  to  be  sounded, 
and  between  seven  and  nine  o'clock  the  inhabi- 
tants gathered  at  the  fort.  "But  in  spite  of  all 
this,  still  no  preparations  were  made ;  on  the  con- 
trary, the  viceroy  remained  inactive,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  the  ships  of  the  enemy  were 
seen  approaching  Quilmes,  three  or  four  leagues 
from  the  city,  and  disembarking  in  boats  and 
launches.""  Finally  as  a  result  of  persistent 
urging  the  viceroy  caused  arms  to  be  distributed 
to  the  militia  of  Buenos  Aires.  This  force,  having 
been  joined  by  800  lancers  under  the  command  of 
Nicolas  de  la  Quintana,  was  sent  to  Quilmes  to 
attack  the  enemy,  and  was  to  be  under  the  com- 
mand of  Sub-Inspector  Pedro  de  Arce.  In  the 
meantime  1000  citizens  had  been  given  arms  at  the 
fort,  but  they  had  no  cartidges  and  their  guns 
had  no  flints.  These  things  they  were  to  get  from 
their  respective  captains  in  the  afternoon.  On  the 
26th,  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  600  of  the 
jjrovincial  militia  with  their  officers  marched  to 
Barracas,  with  the  viceroy  as  their  rear-guard.^^ 

11  Calvo,  Tratados,  IV,  387. 

12  Ibid.,  IV,  388. 


348  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

In  the  meantime  the  British  had  landed;  the 
Argentines  after  firing  from  a  distance  fled,  leav- 
ing three  cannon  and  a  howitzer  which  were 
immediately  taken  possession  of  by  their  enemy. 

During  this  skirmish  a  second  call  to  arms  was 
sounded  in  the  city,  announcing  to  the  rest  of  the 
inhabitants  who  remained  in  the  town  that  their 
compatriots  found  themselves  in  great  need  of 
assistance. 

During  these  operations  the  alarm  had  spread 
through  all  parts  of  the  city.  The  inhabitants 
were  terrified  by  the  news  of  the  arrival  of  the 
British  forces.  The  panic  was,  moreover,  intensi- 
fied by  the  ringing  of  the  bells;  and  the  viceroy, 
abandoning  all  hope  of  effective  resistance,  was 
fully  occupied  in  preparing  for  flight.  But  before 
his  departure  for  the  interior  of  the  country,  he 
published,  June  26,  1806,  a  manifesto  to  the 
inhabitants  he  was  cowardly  deserting. 

There  were  in  the  city  no  disciplined  troops, 
and  no  competent  leaders.  In  the  companies  that 
were  formed  to  ward  off  the  impending  invasion, 
the  officers  were  as  ignorant  as  the  rank  and  file. 
On  the  27th  of  June  the  British  troops,  numbering 
fifteen  hundred  and  sixty  men,  entered  Buenos 
Aires.  The  population  of  the  city  at  this  time 
was  about  45,000  and  the  more  spirited  of  the 
inhabitants  felt  deeply  the  humiliation  of  their 
subjugation,  particularly  when  they  saw  how 
small  was  the  body  of  the  conquerors  who  took 
possession  of  the  streets  and  squares,  and  pro- 


THE    BRITISH    IN   BUENOS  AIRES       349 

ceeded  to  make  their  power  effective  in  the 
government/^ 

Having  taken  possession  of  the  city,  and  raised 
the  British  flag,  with  much  firing  of  cannon  both 
by  the  fleet  and  the  artillery  on  shore,  Beresford 
ordered  the  public  treasure  to  be  put  into  his 
hands.  Under  the  circumstances  compliance  with 
this  demand  was  inevitable.  The  money  was  sur- 
rendered and  transferred  to  London.  A  large 
amount  of  merchandise  also  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  British.  It  consisted  principally  of  chinchona 
and  quicksilver,  and  was  estimated  to  be  worth 
between  one  million  and  two  million  dollars, 
namely,  $1,438,514.  The  arrival  of  the  spoils  in 
London  aroused  general  joy,  and  filled  the  British 
nation  with  extravagant  expectations  of  ^commer- 
cial gains.  The  government  of  Great  Britain  had 
not  authorized  this  conquest,  but  now  it  approved 
and  confirmed  it. 

The  effect  of  the  fall  of  Buenos  Aires  and  of 
the  plan  of  the  British  to  invade  Chile  was  to 
stimulate  the  government  in  Peru  to  undertake 

13  In  his  Autobiography,  Belgrano  makes  the  following  state- 
ment respecting  the  taking  of  the  city  by  the  British: 

"Confieso  que  me  indigne,  y  que  nunea  senti  mas  haber 
ignorado,  como  ya  dije  anteriormente,  hasta  los  rudimentos  de  la 
milicia;  todavia  fue  mayor  mi  incomodidad  cuando  vf  entrar  las 
tropas  enemigas,  y  su  despreciable  numero  para  una  problacion 
como  la  de  Buenos  Aires ;  esta  idea  no  se  aparto  de  mi  imaginacion, 
y  poco  falto  para  que  me  hubiese  hecho  perder  la  cabeza:  me  era 
muy  dolor oso  ver  a  mi  patria  bajo  otra  dominacion,  y  sobre  todo 
en  tal  estado  de  degradacion  que  hubiese  sido  subyugada  por  una 
empresa  aventurera,  cual  era  la  del  bravo  y  honrado  Beresford, 
cuyo  valor  admiro  y  admirare  siempre  en  esta  peligrosa  empresa. ' ' 


350  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

preparations  for  the  defense  of  the  western  coast 
of  South  America.  The  viceroy  Abascal  sent 
forces  and  supplies  to  Chiloe,  aroused  the  Peru- 
vians to  enlist  in  the  militia,  and  proposed  to  lead 
a  body  of  troops  to  Chile,  and,  if  necessary,  to 
Buenos  Aires.  The  struggle  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Buenos  Aires  to  drive  out  the  British  and 
regain  the  city  moved  the  Peruvians  under  the 
leadership  of  Abascal  to  lend  assistance.  They 
sent  100,000  pesos  by  way  of  Cuzco,  and  200,000 
from  the  treasuries  of  Arequipa  and  Puno.  From 
Chile  were  sent  1800  quintals  of  powder,  200,000 
cartridges  and  200  quintals  of  balls,  and  other 
munitions  and  supplies. 

After  the  surrender  of  the  funds,  the  inten- 
tions of  the  British  government  were  made  known 
to  the  inhabitants  through  proclamations,  dated 
June  28  and  June  30,  and  issued  by  the  command- 
ing officers.  These  proclamations  affirmed,  among 
other  things,  that  a  free  trade  should  be  opened 
and  permitted  to  South  America,  similar  to  that 
enjoyed  by  all  others  of  His  Majesty's  colonies, 
particularly  the  island  of  Trinidad,  the  inhab- 
itants of  which  had  derived  peculiar  benefits  from 
being  under  the  government  of  a  sovereign  power- 
ful enough  to  protect  them  from  any  insult,  and 
generous  enough  to  give  them  such  commercial 
advantages  as  they  could  not  enjoy  under  the 
administration  of  any  other  country. 

The  terms  granted  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Buenos  Aires  by  Popham  and  Beresford  were 


THE    BRITISH    IN    BUENOS   AIRES        351 

published  on  the  second  of  July.  They  provided 
that  the  troops  belonging  to  the  king  of  Spain, 
who  were  in  the  town  at  the  time  of  the  entry  of 
the  British  troops,  should  be  allowed  to  meet  in 
the  fortress  of  Buenos  Aires,  to  march  out  of  the 
fort  with  all  the  honors  of  war,  and  should  then 
lay  down  their  arms  and  become  prisoners  of  war ; 
but  such  officers  as  were  natives  of  the  country,  or 
legally  domiciled,  should  be  at  liberty  to  continue 
in  the  province  as  long  as  they  behaved  themselves 
properly,  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  His 
Britannic  Majesty ;  or  they  might  proceed  to  Great 
Britain  with  regular  passports,  having  previously 
passed  their  parole  of  honor  not  to  serve  until 
they  should  be  regularly  exchanged.  Moreover, 
all  bona  fide  private  property,  whether  belonging 
to  individual  persons,  the  churches,  or  public 
institutions,  should  be  unmolested;  all  the  inhab- 
itants should  receive  protection;  the  different 
taxes  should  be  collected  by  the  magistrates,  as 
usual,  until  His  Majesty's  pleasure  should  be 
known ;  every  protection  should  be  afforded  to  the 
exercise  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion ;  the  coast- 
ing vessels  in  the  river  should  be  delivered  to  their 
owners;  and  all  public  property  should  be  sur- 
rendered to  the  captors." 

By  proclamation,  dated  August  4,  1806,  Major- 
General  Beresford   made  known  the   conditions 

1*  The  document  setting  forth  these  terms,  dated  July  2,  1806, 
is  printed  in  Wilcocke,  S.  H.,  History  of  Buenos  Aires  (London, 
1807),  352;  see  Annual  Register,  1806,  599;  the  original,  printed 
in  Spanish  and  English,  is  found  in  Colec.  Carransa :  Invasiones 
Inglesas,  1806-1807,  i. 


352  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

under  which  trade  with  Buenos  Aires  and  its 
dependencies  might  be  carried  on.  He  informed 
the  people 

' '  that  the  system  of  monopoly,  restriction  and  oppression 
has  already  come  to  an  end ;  that  the  people  will  be  able 
to  enjoy  the  products  of  other  countries  at  a  moderate 
price;  that  the  manufactures  and  productions  of  their 
country  are  free  from  the  hindrance  and  oppression  that 
has  burdened  them,  and  prevented  the  country  from 
becoming  what  it  is  capable  of  being,  the  most  flourishing 
in  the  world ;  and  that  the  object  of  Great  Britain  is  the 
happiness  and  prosperity  of  these  countries." 

The  regulations  announced  by  this  procla- 
mation^^ provided  that  a  lawful  trade  in  all 
merchandise,  fruits,  manufactured  articles,  and 
products  from  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  and  her 
colonies  might  be  carried  on  with  Buenos  Aires 
and  its  dependencies,  in  British  ships  owned  by 
His  Majesty's  subjects,  or  by  inhabitants  of  that 
country,  upon  paying,  in  general,  a  duty  of  twelve 
and  one-half  per  cent  ad  valorem,  on  entering  any 
port  of  Rio  de  la  Plata ;  and  that  all  commodities 
produced  in  that  country  should  be  permitted  to 
be  imported  into  the  United  Kingdom,  in  the  ships 
already  mentioned,  under  the  same  terms  as  from 
the  West  India  islands. 

15  The  original  proclamation  is  found  in  Colec.  Carranza :  Inva- 
siones  Inglesas,  1806-1807.  The  order  of  the  king  in  council 
affirming  possession  of  the  conquered  city  and  territory  and  con- 
firming the  terms  of  Beresford's  proclamation  made  it  clear  that 
the  British  government  had  adopted  the  results  of  the  conquest, 
and  held  the  city  and  the  territory  as  a  part  of  the  dominions  of 
the  British  sovereign. 


THE    BRITISH    IN   BUENOS  AIRES       353 


IV 

Beresford  was  not  ignorant  of  the  prepara- 
tions a  part  of  the  inhabitants  were  making  to 
resist  the  invaders  and  to  drive  them  out  of  the 
city.  Through  his  spies  he  was  kept  informed  of 
the  steps  taken  to  organize  a  patriotic  force  at 
Perdriel,  a  place  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  city. 
Against  these  patriots,  who  had  raised  their 
standard  of  blue  and  red,  Beresford  led  a  body  of 
five  hundred  men  with  six  pieces  of  artillery.  In 
spite  of  the  brave  resistance  of  Pueyrredon  and 
his  followers  Beresford  was  victorious.  The 
killed  and  wounded  on  both  sides,  however,  did 
not  amount  to  more  than  a  dozen  persons. 
Although  those  who  had  determined  on  the  re- 
conquest  of  the  city  were  temporarily  scattered, 
they  were  not  discouraged  nor  were  their  plans 
changed.  They  were  almost  immediately  united 
with  certain  forces  under  Liniers,  that  had  been 
collected  at  Colonia,  and  had  left  that  town  for  the 
southern  shore  on  the  3d  of  August. 

On  the  eve  of  his  departure  from  Colonia, 
Liniers  issued  a  proclamation  to  his  troops,  in 
which  he  expressed  his  confidence  in  their  zeal 
and  patriotism,  but  affirmed 

"that  if,  contrary  to  his  expectations,  some  forgetting 
their  principles  should  turn  their  face  from  the  enemy, 
they  should  know  that  there  will  be  a  cannon  in  the  rear 
charged  with  grape-shot,  with  orders  to  fire  on  fugitive 
cowards. ' ' 


354  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

"Valor  without  discipline,"  this  proclamation  con- 
tinues, "only  leads  to  immediate  ruin;  forces  united  and 
subordinate  to  the  voice  of  those  who  direct  them  furnish 
the  most  secure  means  of  attaining  victory ;  therefore  I 
order  and  command  that  the  most  scrupulous  obedience 
be  observed,  under  the  most  severe  penalties  of  the 
ordinances  for  such  cases."" 

In  crossing  from  Colonia  the  Spanish  forces 
took  advantage  of  a  gale  that  swelled  the  waters 
on  the  bank  of  Palmas  permitting  their  ships  to 
pass  over  in  safety.  .They  were  favored,  more- 
over, by  the  violent  rains  that  set  in,  making  the 
roads  practically  impassable  by  any  force  but 
cavalry ;  and  they  were  abundantly  supplied  with 
horses,  while  the  British  had  only  a  few  they  were 
able  to  obtain  in  the  city.  Recog-nizing  his  dis- 
advantageous position,  Beresford  deemed  it  ad- 
visable to  withdraw  from  the  center  of  the  town 
to  the  right  bank  of  the  Riachuelo.  He  sent  over 
the  wounded  and  the  treasure,  but  here  the  Span- 
iards intervened  and  prevented  his  retreat. 

General  Beresford  had  expected  to  be  able  to 
keep  Liniers'  forces  at  a  distance  from  the  town, 
but  his  inadequate  means  of  communication  and 
the  condition  of  the  roads  prevented  the  execution 
of  his  plan.  On  the  10th  of  August  the  Spaniards 
had  closed  in  upon  the  town,  and  occupied  the 
principal    avenues,    while    the    inhabitants    had 

16  This  proclamation  was  dated  August  1,  and  the  forces  left 
Colonia  on  the  3d  (Liniers  to  the  Prince  of  Peace,  August  16, 
1806)  ;  for  this  and  other  documents  relating  to  the  English 
invasion,  see  Calvo,  Tratados  de  la  America  Latina,  V,  1-118. 


THE    BRITISH   IN   BUENOS  AIRES       355 

armed  themselves  and  taken  possession  of  the 
housetops  and  the  churches,  prepared  to  carry  on 
guerilla  warfare  from  their  posts  of  advantage. 
Only  a  part  of  the  force  that  had  been  collected 
under  Liniers  was  armed;  and  as  it  entered  the 
city  it  continued  to  be  attended  by  a  large  number 
of  persons  who  had  neither  the  arms  nor  the  disci- 
pline of  soldiers.  The  people  were  aroused  to  do 
what  they  might,  whether  with  or  without  arms, 
to  further  the  cause  of  their  emancipation;  and 
the  unarmed  were  especially  helpful  in  assisting 
to  bring  up  the  artillery. 

Liniers'  success  in  life  had  hitherto  been  lim- 
ited by  his  personal  character.  He  was  a  man, 
according  to  General  Mitre's  description,  of  "high 
spirit,  sensitive  imagination,  reckless  tempera- 
ment, with  more  good-nature  than  energy,  and 
with  more  zeal  in  taking  up  projects  than  perse- 
verence  in  carrying  them  out;  he  was  intelligent, 
active,  and  brave,  uniting  to  an  heroic  yet  vacil- 
lating ambition  the  frivolous  passions  of  a  super- 
ficial man ;  although  he  was  not  wanting  in  moral 
elevation  and  had  the  characteristics  of  a  gentle- 
man, he  was  guided  rather  by  his  emotions  than 
his  judgment.  "^^ 

On  the  10th  of  August  Liniers  demanded 
from  Beresford  the  surrender  of  the  city.  To 
his  request  the  British  general  replied  that  he 
would  defend  it  as  long  as  it  might  be  done  with- 
in Mitre,  Historia  de  Belgrmio,  I,  128 ;  Groussac,  Paul,  Santiago 
de  Liniers,  Conde  de  Buenos  Aires,  Buenos  Aires,  1907. 


356  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

out  overwhelming  the  inhabitants  in  calamity. 
Liniers  received  this  answer  at  eleven  o'clock  at 
night,  and  three  hours  later  his  forces  began  the 
march;  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  occu- 
pied the  square,  Retiro,  and  here  the  contest  for 
the  possession  of  the  city  began.  The  result  of 
the  fighting  which  followed  in  the  streets  and 
from  the  housetops  was  the  unconditional  sur- 
render of  Beresford  and  his  troops,  on  the  12th 
of  August.  The  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  was 
three  hundred;  twelve  hundred  laid  down  their 
arms  and  became  prisoners  of  war.  The  victors 
lost  two  hundred  in  killed  and  wounded.^^ 


After  the  overthrow  of  the  British  the  fate 
of  Buenos  Aires  was  in  the  hands  of  the  popular 
army.  The  viceroy,  the  representative  of  the 
sovereign,  had  fled  before  the  invaders,  and  was 
hopelessly  discredited.  Under  the  circumstances 
it  devolved  upon  the  municipality  to  initiate  a 
movement  to  effect  an  organization.  This  was 
done  by  calling  a  congress  of  one  hundred  persons 
known  as  notables.  This  congress  was  opened, 
according  to  Mitre,  * '  in  the  presence  of  more  than 
four  thousand  spectators  resolved  to  intervene  in 
the  discussion  if  it  was  necessary."^® 

18  Liniers  to  the  Prince  of  Peace,  August  16,  1806;  Sir  Home 
Popham  to  W.  Marsden,  August  25,  1806. 
10  Historia  de  Belgrano,  I,  141. 


THE    BRITISH    IN    BUENOS  AIRES        357 

Under  the  strong  pressure  of  a  clamorous 
public,  the  chief  military  command  was  formally 
conferred  upon  Liniers,  and  a  committee  carrying 
a  notification  of  this  appointment  was  sent  to 
Sobremonte.  The  viceroy  was  found  about  forty 
leagues  from  Buenos  Aires  at  the  head  of  a  force 
of  three  thousand  men,  and  he  professed  to  be 
advancing  to  reconquer  the  city  which  had  already 
been  reconquered  by  the  citizens  themselves.  At 
first  he  refused  to  assent  to  the  appointment  of 
Liniers,  but  was  soon  convinced  by  the  attitude  of 
the  municipality  that  opposition  was  useless.  He 
was  also  convinced  that  the  period  of  his  service 
as  viceroy  was  ended. 

This  change  left  the  civil  and  military  power 
distributed  among  the  audiencia,  the  cabildo,  or 
municipal  corporation,  and  Liniers,  as  the  mili- 
trry  chief.  Under  this  new  order,  two  of  the 
authorities,  the  cabildo  and  the  military  chief,  had 
a  popular  basis  for  their  power.  It  was  the  voice 
of  the  populace  which  had  insisted  that  Liniers 
should  be  formally  recognized  as  the  leader  of 
the  armed  force;  and  the  cabildo  was  the  repre- 
sentative body  of  the  municipal  republic.  In  the 
process  of  colonial  emancipation  the  audiencia, 
whose  members  were  appointed  by  the  king,  and 
represented  absolute  power,  appeared  destined  to 
diminish  relatively  in  influence  as  the  people  grew 
in  power. 


358  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 


VI 

After  the  surrender  of  the  troops  in  the  city 
under  Beresford,  the  fleet  remained  in  the  river 
blockading  the  ports  of  both  shores.  The  first 
reinforcements  to  arrive  were  1400  men  from 
Cape  Colony;  the  next  were  4300  men  sent  from 
England  under  the  command  of  General  Samuel 
Auchmuty.  Admiral  Stirling,  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  convoying  fleet  from  England,  was 
ordered  to  relieve  Sir  Home  Popham.  Both  of 
these  expeditions  were  dispatched  before  it  was 
known  in  London  that  Beresford  had  been  de- 
feated; and  they  were  originally  designed  to 
assist  him  in  holding  the  position  he  had  won. 
Another  expedition  of  4400  men  had  been  pre- 
pared to  invade  Chile,  but  was  ordered  to  the  Rio 
de  la  Plata  when  the  result  of  the  popular  uprising 
in  Buenos  Aires  had  become  known  to  the  British 
government.  A  little  later  still  another  body  of 
1630  men  was  sent,  under  the  immediate  command 
of  Major-General  Levi  son  Gower.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year  1807,  the  British  had  assembled 
near  Buenos  Aires  an  army  of  about  12,000  men, 
a  fleet  of  eighteen  war  vessels,  and  more  than 
eighty  transports.  The  chief  command  over  all 
the  land  forces  serving  in  this  region  was  con- 
ferred upon  Lieutenant-General  Whitelocke.^" 
General  Whitelocke  was  commanded,  in  case  the 

20  Whitelocke 's  military  commission  was   dated   February  24, 
1807;  see  Trial  of  Lieut.-Gen.  WhitelocJce,  London,  1808,  I,  5. 


THE    BRITISH    IN    BUENOS  AIRES        359 

British  succeeded  in  establishing  their  authority 
in  the  southern  provinces  of  South  America,  to 
assume  and  exercise  the  civil  government  of  the 
conquered  territory,  and  to  pay  himself  a  salary 
of  four  thousand  pounds  sterling  per  annum  out 
of  any  revenues  that  might  be  collected  in  these 
provinces. 

Before  the  news  of  the  disaster  reached  Lon- 
don an  order  was  issued  for  the  recall  of  Sir 
Home  Popham.  The  Lords  Commissioners  of  the 
Admiralty  had  before  them  Popham 's  letter  of 
July  6,  containing  information  that  the  city  of 
Buenos  Aires  and  its  dependencies  had  surren- 
dered to  His  Majesty's  arms:  and  they  found  it 
advisable  to  take  note  of  the  irregularity  of  the 
conquest.  On  September  25  their  secretary,  Wil- 
liam Marsden,  wrote  to  Popham : 

"I  have  received  their  Lordship's  commands  to 
acquaint  you,  that  although  they  have  judged  it  neces- 
sary to  mark  their  disapproval  of  a  measure  of  such 
importance  being  undertaken  without  the  sanction  of  his 
Majesty's  government,  and  of  your  having  left  the 
station  it  was  your  duty  to  guard  without  any  naval 
defence,  they  are  nevertheless  pleased  to  express  their 
entire  approbation  of  the  judicious,  able,  and  spirited 
conduct  manifested  by  yourself,  the  officers,  seamen,  and 
mariners  employed  under  your  orders  on  the  above  occa- 
sion." 

Rear  admiral  Stirling,  appointed  to  succeed 
Popham,  was  authorized  to  determine  in  which 
ship  Popham  should  return  to  England  and,  in 
performing  this  duty,  he  indicated  the  Sampson, 


360  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

which  had  a  convoy  in  charge  for  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  was  then  to  proceed  to  Saint 
Helena  on  the  way  to  Europe.  In  protesting 
against  this  order  Sir  Home  Pophom  wrote: 

' '  It  is  natural,  Sir,  for  me  to  feel  mortified  at  the  idea 
of  having,  by  any  act  of  mine,  given  their  Lordships 
cause  to  supersede  me  in  this  country;  but  when,  in 
addition  to  this,  I  learn  that  it  is  proposed  that  I  should 
be  subject  to  all  the  aggravation  of  a  voyage  lengthened 
by  proceeding  from  South  America  to  South  Africa, 
thence  to  Saint  Helena  for  convoy,  on  my  way  to  Eng- 
land, I  cannot  but  say  it  is  the  severest  punishment  that 
could  be  inflicted  on  me.  To  a  mind  sensible,  as  I  trust 
mine  is,  to  every  reproach — to  any  man  of  proper  feeling 
— it  is  that  sort  of  punishment  which  I  consider  second- 
ary to  scarcely  any  but  death :  it  is  carrying  me  in  a 
situation  humbled  in  the  extreme  to  the  place  which,  in 
conjunction  with  Sir  David  Baird,  I  had  the  honor  to 
capture.  There  are  also  reasons,  too  evident  to  need 
any  explanation,  which  would  make  a  visit  to  Saint 
Helena,  situated  as  I  am,  equally  galling  to  my  feel- 
ings. "^^ 

The  subsequent  correspondence  on  this  subject 
showed  Stirling's  meanness  of  spirit  under  cir- 
cumstances where  he  could  have  afforded  to  be 
generous. 

After  his  arrival  in  England  Sir  Home  Pop- 
ham  was  tried  by  a  court-martial,  held  on  the 
Gladiator;  and  at  the  conclusion  of  the  trial  the 
following  verdict  was  rendered : 

"The  Court  is  of  the  opinion,  that  the  charges  have 
been  proved  against  the  said  Captain  Sir  Home  Popham. 

21  Sir  Home  Popham  to  Rear- Admiral  Stirling,  December  7, 
1806. 


THE    BRITISH    IN   BUENOS  AIRES       361 

That  the  withdrawing,  without  orders  so  to  do,  the  whole 
of  any  naval  force  from  the  place  where  it  is  directed 
to  be  employed,  and  the  employing  it  in  distant  opera- 
tions against  the  enemy;  more  especially  if  the  success 
of  such  operations  should  be  likely  to  prevent  its  speedy 
return,  may  be  attended  with  the  most  serious  incon- 
venience to  the  public  service,  as  the  success  of  any  plan 
formed  by  his  Majesty's  Ministers  for  operations  against 
the  enemy,  in  which  such  naval  force  might  be  included, 
may  by  such  removal  entirely  be  prevented.  And  the 
Court  is  further  of  opinion,  that  the  conduct  of  the  said 
Captain  Sir  Home  Popham,  in  the  withdrawing  the 
whole  of  the  naval  force  under  his  command  from  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  the  proceeding  with  it  to  the 
Rio  de  la  Plata,  was  highly  censurable,  but  in  consider- 
ation of  circumstances  doth  adjudge  him  to  be  only 
severely  reprimanded;  and  the  said  Captain  Sir  Home 
Popham  is  hereby  severely  reprimanded  accordingly."^^ 

VII 

The  British  forces  took  possession  of  Monte- 
video, Maldonado,  and  Colonia,  and  appeared  to 
have  established  their  authority  firmly  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  river. 

"Merchant  vessels  had  followed  in  the  wake  of  the 
ships  of  war,  and  the  river,  lately  so  deserted,  was  encum- 
bered with  vessels  having  on  board  more  merchandise 
than  the  country  would  be  able  to  consume  in  five  years. 
Montevideo  had  all  the  appearance  of  an  English  city; 
English  placards  covered  the  walls;  in  all  the  streets 
English  shops  were  opened,  where  English  cloth  was  sold 
at  half  the  price  which  had  hitherto  been  paid  for  it,  on 
account  of  the  thousand  hindrances  of  the  Spanish  cus- 

22  Trial  of  Sir  Home  Popliam,  179,  180. 


362  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

toms,  and  the  unreasonable  demands  of  the  smugglers. 
Finally  a  Spanish-English  journal,  The  Star  of  the 
South,  was  established  under  the  patronage  and  with  the 
assistance  of  the  English  administration,  with  the  pur- 
pose of  undermining  the  authority  of  Spain,  whose 
decadence  and  weakness  it  was  pleased  to  expose. '  '^^ 

About  three  months  after  the  taking  of  Monte- 
video, Wliitelocke  and  Crawford  arrived.  In  view 
of  the  firm  footing  that  had  been  gained  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  river,  and  the  fact  that  1600  men 
had  previously  taken  the  city,  the  task  of  the 
commander-in-chief,  at  the  head  of  an  army  of 
twelve  thousand  men,  did  not  appear  difficult.  On 
the  28th  of  June,  1807,  the  British  forces  landed 
at  Ensenada,  a  little  port  about  sixteen  leagues 
southeast  of  Buenos  Aires.  Since  Beresford's 
easy  victory  the  spirit  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Buenos  Aires  had  undergone  a  great  change, 
which  was  in  a  measure  manifest  in  their  expul- 
sion of  the  invaders,  and  they  now  found  them- 
selves directed  by  leaders  of  energy  and  foresight. 
Alzaga  stood  at  the  head  of  the  municipality, 
and  the  national  battalions  were  commanded  by 
Saavedra,  Belgrano,  Esteban  Romero,  Balcarce, 
Viamont,  and  Martin  Rodriguez.  The  bulk  of  the 
inhabitants,  in  view  of  the  force  and  skill  that 
were  brought  against  them,  appreciated  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  situation ;  but  at  the  same  time  they 
felt  confident  of  success. 

The  British,  advancing  towards  the  city, 
crossed   the    Riachuelo,    and    inflicted   upon    the 

23  Arcos,  La  Flata,  Paris,  1865,  214. 


THE    BRITISH    IN   BUENOS  AIRES       363 

Spaniards  a  partial  defeat.  This  defeat  de- 
stroyed the  hopeful  expectations  of  the  people 
and  spread  a  pall  of  evil  foreboding  over  the  city. 
In  the  night  which  followed,  Alzaga  caused  the 
city  to  be  placed  in  a  condition  of  defense.  The 
streets  around  the  plaza  were  cut  by  deep 
trenches ;  the  troops  were  distributed  on  the  roofs 
of  the  churches  and  other  buildings;  and  the 
artillery  was  placed  behind  street  barricades,  and 
where  it  might  command  the  trenches.  Confidence 
returned  to  the  defenders  of  the  city.  The  leaders 
of  the  attacking  party  appeared  also  to  be  con- 
fident of  victory,  for  in  summoning  the  city  to 
surrender  he  offered  the  following  conditions : 

"1.  All  British  subjects  detained  in  South  America 
must  be  delivered  up,  and  sufficient  hostages  placed  in 
the  power  of  the  British  commander  till  their  arrival 
at  Buenos  Aires. 

"2.  That  all  persons  holding  civil  offices  dependent 
on  the  government  of  Buenos  Aires,  and  all  military 
officers  and  soldiers  become  prisoners  of  war. 

"3.  That  all  cannon,  stores,  arms,  and  ammunition 
be  delivered  up  uninjured. 

"4.  That  all  public  property  of  every  description  be 
delivered  up  to  the  British  commanders. 

"5.  That  free  and  unrestrained  exercise  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion  be  granted  to  the  inhabitants 
of  Buenos  Aires. 

''6.  That  all  private  property  on  shore  shall  be  re- 
spected and  secured  to  its  owners. ' ' 

In  replying  to  this  proposition,  the  Spaniards 
refused  to  consider  any  terms  which  involved  the 
laying  down  of  their  arms.    The  day  following  the 


364  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

date  of  this  reply,  namely,  the  4th  of  July,  Gen- 
eral Whitelocke  wrote  to  Liniers,  stating  that  he 
had  another  column  of  troops  awaiting  his  orders 
within  little  more  than  a  league  of  the  capital; 
that  he  had  considerable  reinforcements  on  board 
ship ;  and  that  the  navy  was  ready  to  support  such 
military  operations  as  might  be  adopted.  But 
Liniers  appears  not  to  have  been  profoundly 
impressed  by  the  assurance  of  the  invader,  and 
replied,  on  the  same  day,  that  whilst  he  had  am- 
munition and  whilst  the  spirit  which  animated  the 
garrison  and  the  people  continued  to  exist,  he 
would  not  think  of  delivering  up  the  post  which 
had  been  confided  to  him,  convinced  that  he  had 
more  than  sufficient  means  to  resist  all  the  forces 
that  were  ready  to  be  brought  against  him. 
Active  hostilities  began  in  the  city  on  the  5th  of 
July;  and  as  the  result  of  this  day  for  the  British 
there  were  1130  killed  and  wounded,  including  70 
officers,  and  120  officers  and  1500  private  soldiers 
made  prisoners.  It  was  now  the  Spaniards'  turn 
to  assume  a  tone  of  confidence.  At  five  o  'clock  on 
the  evening  of  the  conflict,  Liniers  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  General  Whitelocke: 

"The  same  sentiments  of  humanity  which  induced 
your  Excellency  to  propose  to  me  to  capitulate,  lead  me, 
now  that  I  am  fully  acquainted  with  your  force,  that  I 
have  taken  80  officers  and  upwards  of  1000  men,  and 
killed  more  than  double  that  number,  without  your  hav- 
ing reached  the  centre  of  my  position ;  the  same  senti- 
ments I  say,  lead  me  in  order  to  avoid  a  greater  effusion 
of  blood,  and  to  give  your  Excellency  a  fresh  proof  of 


THE    BRITISH    IN    BUENOS   AIRES        365 

Spanish  generosity,  to  offer  to  your  Excellency,  that  if 
you  choose  to  reembark  with  the  remainder  of  your 
army,  to  evacuate  Montevideo,  and  the  whole  of  the 
River  Plate,  leaving  me  hostages  for  the  execution  of 
the  treaty,  I  will  not  only  return  all  the  prisoners  which 
I  have  now  made,  but  also  all  those  which  were  taken 
from  General  Beresford :  at  the  same  time  I  think  it 
necessary  to  state,  that  if  your  Excellency  does  not  admit 
this  offer,  I  cannot  answer  for  the  safety  of  the  prisoners, 
as  my  troops  are  so  infinitely  exasperated  against  them, 
and  the  more  so,  as  three  of  my  Aids-de-Camp  have  been 
wounded  bearing  flags  of  truce ;  and  for  this  reason  I 
send  your  Excellency  this  letter  by  an  English  officer, 
and  shall  wait  your  answer  one  hour.  "^* 

Whitelocke's  reply  was  dated  July  6,  and  in  it 
he  affirmed  that  the  idea  of  surrendering  the 
advantage  which  the  army  had  gained  was  quite 
inadmissible;  but  the  tone  of  this  communication 
did  not  suggest  a  boasting  spirit  on  the  part  of 
the  writer,  and  in  the  treaty  which  was  signed  on 
the  following  day,  he  acceded  to  virtually  all  of 
the  demands  made  by  Liniers.  What  the  con- 
ditions of  the  final  agreement  were,  can  hardly 
be  more  succinctly  stated  than  in  the  language  of 
the  treaty  itself : 

"I.  There  shall  be  from  this  time  a  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities on  both  sides  of  the  River  Plata. 

' '  II.  The  troops  of  his  Britannic  Majesty  shall  retain 
for  the  period  of  two  months  the  fortress  and  place  of 
Montevideo,  and  as  a  neutral  country  there  shall  be  con- 
sidered a  line  drawn  from  San  Carlos  on  the  west  to 
Parido  on  the  east,  and  there  shall  not  be  on  any  part 
of  that  line  hostilities  committed  on  any  side,  the  neu- 

24  Trial  of  Lieut.-Gen.  Whiteloclce,  Appendix,  vol.  I,  p.  xxxviii. 


366  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

trality  being  understood,  only  that  the  individuals  of 
both  nations  may  live  freely  under  their  respective  laws, 
the  Spanish  subjects  being  judged  by  theirs,  as  the 
English  by  those  of  their  nation. 

"III.  There  shall  be  on  both  sides  a  mutual  restitu- 
tion of  prisoners,  including  not  only  those  which  have 
been  taken  since  the  arrival  of  the  troops  under  Lieu- 
tenant-General  Whitelocke,  but  also  all  those  his  Britan- 
nic Majesty's  subjects  captured  in  South  America  since 
the  commencement  of  the  war. 

"IV.  That  for  the  promptest  dispatch  of  the  vessels 
and  troops  of  his  Britannic  Majesty,  there  shall  be  no 
impediment  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  supplies  of  pro- 
visions which  may  be  requested  for  Montevideo. 

"V.  A  period  of  ten  days  from  this  time  is  given  for 
the  reembarkation  of  his  Britannic  Majesty's  troops  to 
pass  to  the  north  side  of  the  River  La  Plata,  with  the 
arms  which  may  be  actually  in  their  power,  stores,  equip- 
age, at  the  most  convenient  points  which  may  be  selected, 
and  during  this  time  provisions  ma}^  be  sold  to  them. 

"VI.  That  at  the  time  of  the  delivery  of  the  place 
and  fortress  of  Montevideo,  which  shall  take  place  at  the 
end  of  the  two  months  fixed  in  the  second  article,  th',? 
delivery  will  be  made  in  the  terms  it  was  found,  and 
with  the  artillery  it  had  when  it  was  taken." 

"VII.  Three  officers  of  rank  shall  be  delivered 
for  and  until  the  fulfillment  of  the  above  articles  by 
both  parties,  being  well  understood  that  his  Britannic 
Majesty's  officers  who  have  been  on  their  parole  cannot 
serve  against  South  America  until  their  arrival  in 
Europe.  "25 

This  treaty  was  signed  by  Lieutenant-General 
Whitelocke  and  Rear- Admiral  George  Murray,  on 
the  part  of  the  British,  and  by  Santiago  Liniers, 

25  Trial  of  Lieut.-Gen.  Whitelocke,  Appendix,  vol.  I,  p.  xxv. 


THE    BRITISH    IN   BUENOS  AIRES       367 

Cesar  Balbiani,  and  Bernardo  Velasco  for  Spain. 
The  British  were  required  to  evacuate  Buenos 
Aires  within  forty-eight  hours,  and  Montevideo 
within  two  months,  and  they  complied  strictly 
with  these  requirements.  At  the  expiration  of  the 
term  fixed,  the  posts  which  they  had  held  on  the 
Plata  were  abandoned. 

The  complete  victory  won  by  the  inhabitants 
of  Buenos  Aires  had  come  after  brief  periods 
during  the  conflict  when  it  was  feared  that  all  was 
lost;  and  the  announcement  of  peace,  with  these 
extraordinary  and  unexpected  conditions,  was 
received  with  many  signs  of  public  joy.  The 
patriots  owed  their  deliverance  not  merely  to 
their  own  bravery,  but  also,  in  large  part,  to  the 
stupidity  of  the  British  leader.  Their  loss  dur- 
ing the  days  of  fighting  was  302  killed  and  514 
wounded,  of  whom  37  were  officers. 

Concerning  the  attitude  of  the  Spanish  to- 
wards the  English  in  Montevideo,  an  English 
resident  of  that  city  made  the  following  statement 
in  a  volume  published  in  1808: 

"The  intercourse  which  subsisted  between  the  Span- 
iards and  English  in  Montevideo,  gave  them  an  idea  of 
our  character,  conduct,  and  liberal  intentions,  so  different 
from  what  they  had  been  taught  to  expect,  that  could  they 
have  followed  their  own  wishes,  and  what  they  knew  to 
be  their  own  interest,  by  far  the  greater  part  of  them 
would  have  rejoyced  at  our  continuance  among  them. 
They  confessed  that  they  had  never  before  seen  such 
commerce,  that  they  had  never  enjoyed  under  their 
former    government    such    security    and   happiness,    or 


368  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

known  such  strict  impartiality  in  the  administration  of 
justice. 

"It  indeed  seemed,  without  exaggeration,  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Montevideo,  on  the  news  of  our  repulse 
at  Buenos  Aires,  felt  even  more  severely  than  ourselves, 
and  lamented,  instead  of  rejoicing,  at  the  successes  of 
their  countrymen.  As  the  period  of  our  departure 
approached,  and  when  they  found  by  our  preparations 
that  the  place  was  really  to  be  abandoned,  which  was  a 
circumstance  that  they  for  a  long  time  thought  incred- 
ible, a  gloom  seemed  to  pervade  every  countenance.  Not 
the  most  distant  appearance  of  exultation  could  any- 
where be  discovered.  They  took  leave  of  us  with  regret, 
and  seemed  by  the  tears  that  were  shed,  to  be  parting 
from  their  friends  and  relations,  rather  than  from 
enemies."^" 

Whitelocke  returned  to  England,  and  was 
there  tried  by  a  court-martial  on  four  distinct 
charges.  The  essential  points  of  these  charges 
were  as  follows : 

"1.  That  Wliitelocke  had  sent  a  message  to  the  Span- 
ish commander,  demanding,  among  other  things,  'the 
surrender  of  all  persons  holding  civil  offices  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  Buenos  Aires  as  prisoners  of  war.' 

"2.  That  during  the  march  from  Ensenada  to  Buenos 
Aires  he  'did  not  make  the  military  arrangements  best 
calculated  to  ensure  the  success  of  his  operations  against 
the  town,'  and  ordered  the  forces  to  enter  the  city  with 
arms  unloaded,  and  on  no  account  to  fire,  thus  unneces- 
sarily exposing  the  troops  to  destruction,  without  the 
possibility  of  making  effectual  opposition. 

"3.  That  he  'did  not  make,  although  it  was  in  his 

20  Notes  on  the  Fieeroyalty  of  La  Plata  in  South  America, 
London,  1808,  104^106. 


THE    BRITISH    IN    BUENOS   AIRES        369 

power,  any  effectual  attempt,  by  his  own  personal  exer- 
tion or  otherwise,  to  co-operate  with  or  support  the 
different  divisions  of  the  army  under  his  command,  when 
engaged  with  the  enemy  in  the  streets  of  Buenos  Aires, 
on  the  5th  of  July.' 

"4.  That  he,  subsequently  to  the  attack  on  the  town 
of  Buenos  Aires,  and  at  a  time  when  the  troops  under 
his  command  were  in  possession  of  posts  on  each  flank 
of  the  town,  and  of  the  principal  arsenal,  with  a  com- 
munication open  to  the  fleet,  and  having  an  effective 
force  of  about  flve  thousand  men,  did  enter  into,  and 
finally  conclude  a  treaty  with  the  enemy,  whereby  he 
acknowledged  in  the  public  dispatch  the  10th  of  July, 
1807,  that  he  resolved  to  forego  the  advantages  which  the 
bravery  of  his  troops  had  obtained,  and  which  advantages 
had  cost  him  about  two  thousand  five  hundred  men  in 
killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  and  by  such  treaty  he 
unnecessarily  and  shamefully  surrendered  all  such  ad- 
vantages, totally  evacuated  the  town  of  Buenos  Aires 
and  consented  to  deliver,  and  did  shamefully  abandon 
and  deliver  up  to  the  enemy  the  strong  fortress  of  Monte- 
video, which  had  been  committed  to  his  charge,  and 
which,  at  the  period  of  the  treaty  and  abandonment,  was 
well  and  sufficiently  garrisoned  and  provided  against 
attack,  and  which  was  not,  at  such  period,  in  a  state  of 
blockade  or  siege.  "^^ 

General  Wliitelocke  was  found  guilty  of  these 
charges,  with  the  exception  of  that  part  of  the 
second  charge  which  relates  to  the  order  pro- 
hibiting firing  on  entering  the  city.  He  was  in 
consequence  '^cashiered  and  declared  totally  unfit 
and  unworthy  to  serve  His  Majesty  in  any  mili- 
tary capacity  whatsoever." 

27  Trial  of  Lieut.-Gen.  Wliitelocke,  Appendix,  vol.  I,  pp.  i-iv. 


370  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

The  city  of  Buenos  Aires,  by  its  heroic  achieve- 
ments in  expelling  Beresford  and  resisting  the 
assault  of  Whitelocke,  won  marked  distinction. 
By  the  king  it  was  ennobled  and  permitted  to 
employ  the  title  of  Excellency;  and  all  the  other 
cities  of  the  viceroyalty  sent  deputations  con- 
gratulating it  on  its  heroism.^^ 

Although  this  episode  cost  Buenos  Aires  many 
lives  and  not  a  little  destruction  of  property,  by 
it  the  inhabitants  acquired  a  valuable  experience. 
It  showed  that  the  authority  of  Spain  in  this  part 
of  America  might  be  easily  overthrown;  at  the 
same  time  it  made  manifest  the  fact  that  the  new 
society  already  stood  prepared  to  assert  itself. 
By  this  struggle  the  inhabitants  of  these  provinces 
had  moved  forward  to  a  new  position.  They  had 
been  deserted  by  their  official  ruler,  and  in  the 
presence  of  a  powerful  enemy,  they  had  been 
obliged  to  take  up  the  reins  of  public  power  which 
he  had  cowardly  thrown  down  in  his  flight.  By 
their  experience,  gained  in  successfully  defending 
themselves,  they  had  been  politically  transformed. 
They  had  acquired  the  spirit  of  an  independent 
commonwealth.  They  had  the  power  to  be  free, 
and  wanted  only  the  will  to  be  free.  The  revolt 
against  Spain  was,  therefore  destined  to  appear 

28  See  Trial  of  Lieut.-Gen,  Whitelocl'.e ;  also  Watson,  Eobert 
Grant,  Spanish  and  Portuguese  South  America,  London,  1884,  II, 
chap.  XVIII,  and  Appendix;  an  account  of  the  taking  and  the 
reconquest  by  a  contemporary  resident  of  Buenos  Aires  is  con- 
tained in  Ignacio  Nunez,  Noticias  historical  de  la  Eepuhlica  Argen- 
tina, Buenos  Aires,  1857,  3-50. 


THE    BRITISH    IN   BUENOS  AIRES        371 

whenever  the  community  arrived  at  a  conscious- 
ness of  its  real  position.  The  events  of  these  two 
years  had  tended  to  arouse  their  self-conscious- 
ness. The  British  carried  off  the  spoils  of  the 
colony,  but  they  contributed  to  the  development 
of  a  nation. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

PERU  AND  CHILE  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE 
NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

I.  The  viceroj^s.     II.  El  Mercurio  Peruana.     HI.  Am- 
brosio  O'Higg'ins.     IV.  The  Araueanian  question, 

V.  Agriculture    and   the   system   of   eneomiendas. 

VI.  Fear  of  foreign  trade  and  foreign  ideas.  VII. 
The  last  viceroy  of  the  eighteenth  century.  VIII. 
The  population.  IX.  Commerce  and  industry. 
X.  Titles  of  nobility  and  entailed  estates.  XL 
Life  in  the  country.  XII.  Hindrances  to  produc- 
tion.   XIII.  Royal  drafts  on  the  resources. 


Aftee  the  final  establishment  of  the  viceroyalty 
of  New  Granada  in  1739,  and  the  creation  of  the 
viceroyalty  of  Rio  de  la  Plata,  in  1776,  the  juris- 
diction of  the  viceroy  of  Peru,  including  the  par- 
tially dependent  captaincy-general  of  Chile,  was 
limited  to  a  region  embracing  approximately  the 
territory  at  present  claimed  by  the  republics  of 
Peru,  Bolivia,  and  Chile.  From  1776  to  the  end 
of  the  colonial  period,  the  viceregal  power  within 
this  territory  was  exercised  by  a  series  of  seven 
viceroys.  These  were  Manuel  de  Guirior  (1776- 
1780),  Agustin  de  Jauregui   (1780-1784),  Theo- 


PERU  AND  CHILE  373 

doro  de  Croix  (1784-1790),  Francisco  Gil  de 
Taboada  y  Lemos  (1790-1796),  Ambrosio  O'Hig- 
gins  (1796-1801),  Gabriel  Aviles,  the  Marquis  of 
Aviles  (1801-1806),  and  Jose  Fernando  Abascal 
(1806-1816).  Under  the  political  organization  of 
this  region  during  this  period,  Chile  was  depen- 
dent on  Peru  with  respect  to  military  affairs  and 
matters  relating  to  the  royal  treasury,  but  the 
local  affairs  of  the  province  were  controlled  by  the 
captain-general  of  Chile.  There  was  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  boundary  of  the  viceroyalty,  in  1796, 
when  certain  districts  northwest  of  Lake  Titica 
were  withdrawn  from  the  viceroyalty  of  Rio  de  la 
Plata,  and  added  to  the  viceroyalty  of  Peru. 

The  four  years  of  Guirior  's  reign  were  marked 
by  the  local  disturbances  preliminary  to  the  great 
Indian  revolt,  and  by  the  military  preparations 
that  absorbed  much  of  the  attention  of  both  Amat, 
who  preceded  him,  and  Jauregui  who  followed 
him.  Although  it  was  now  fifteen  years  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  Jesuits,  the  government  was  still 
engaged  with  measures  relating  to  the  disposition 
of  the  confiscated  property.^ 

In  the  upturning  between  1780  and  1782,  the 
system  of  the  forceful  distribution  of  goods 
among  the  Indians  disappeared  together  with  the 
corregidores,  but  other  abuses  hardly  less  grave 
subsisted.  Not  the  least  of  these  was  the  treat- 
ment of  the  Indians  in  the  mines.     This  was  an 

1  Guirior 's  Belacion  to  his  successor  is  printed  in  Belaciones  de 
los  vireyes  y  audiencias  que  lian  goiernado  el  Peru,  Madrid,  1872, 
III,  1-113. 


374  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

ancient  field  of  cruelty.  For  two  hundred  years 
the  employers  had  held  their  laborers  as  slaves, 
not  nominally  slaves ;  but  it  was  maintained  that 
they  could  not  leave  the  works  while  they  were  in 
debt,  and  they  were  kept  in  debt  by  the  proprie- 
tors selling  them  goods  at  exorbitant  prices.  This 
form  of  bondage  was  not  an  invention  of  the 
Spaniards.  It  is  an  inheritance  from  the  Orient. 
The  viceroy  Guirior  uttered  a  severe  prohibition 
of  the  practice,  but  whatever  may  have  been  the 
immediate  effect  of  his  injunction,  the  abuse  still 
lingers  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  and  doubtless 
in  many  obscure  corners  of  America. 

At  this  time  there  was  communication  by  post 
between  Lima  and  Buenos  Aires  once  a  month 
for  correspondence,  and  a  special  post  once  every 
two  months  for  packages.  There  was  also  a 
monthly  post  between  Lima  and  Cerro  de  Pasco 
and  Huanuco  by  way  of  Jauja.  In  some  of  the 
civil  institutions  of  the  country,  hospitals,  for 
example,  there  was  observed  a  marked  decadence 
due  at  least  in  part  to  a  decline  in  their  resources. 
This  decline  was  often  owing  to  maladministra- 
tion. Li  the  earlier  decades  the  prodigality  of  the 
mines  permitted  lavish  expenditure  and  encour- 
aged no  emphasis  on  the  need  of  careful  and 
economical  management.  It  was  not  strange  that 
public  foundations  later  suffered  from  careless  or 
unwise  control.  Somewhat  of  the  weakness  of  the 
civil  administration  was  doubtless  attributable 
also  to  the  fact  that  most  of  the  chief  officials  sent 


PERU  AND  CHILE  375 

from  Spain  to  govern  the  colonies  were  men  of 
military  training  and  experience,  and  conse- 
quently fitted  to  take  a  wise  initiative  only  in 
military  affairs,  only  in  expenditure  and  destruc- 
tion, not  in  the  creative  work  on  which  the  well- 
being  and  the  progress  of  civil  life  depends. 

The  loosening  of  the  joints  of  the  social  struc- 
ture was  illustrated  by  the  affairs  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  San  Marcos.  The  academic  community 
was  divided  into  hostile  parties.  It  was  a  con- 
flict between  the  old  and  the  new,  and  between 
ecclesiastical  and  secular  control.  In  a  project 
to  elect  a  new  rector,  the  inhabitants  of  the  city 
became  partisans  for  one  or  an  other  candidate. 
As  in  the  election  of  the  head  of  a  monastery  or 
convent,  persons  having  no  connection  with  the 
institution  became  intense  partisans.  It  was  the 
case  of  a  .community  having  few  opportunities  to 
express  its  contentious  spirit,  seizing  upon  and 
becoming  partisans  in  matters  that  did  not  vitally 
concern  it.  Respect  for  the  traditional  seemed  to 
triumph,  when  the  viceroy  suppressed  the  pro- 
fessorship of  Indain  languages  and  used  its  foun- 
dation in  establishing  a  chair  for  instruction  in 
the  ethics,  politics,  and  economics  of  Aristotle. 

Among  the  royal  decrees  arriving  at  Lima  in 
the  reign  of  Jauregui,  relating  to  details  of  admin- 
istration, significant  and  insignificant,  one  pro- 
vided that  the  squadron  in  the  Pacific  should  be 
under  orders  of  the  viceroy  and  of  no  other  chief. 
Another  provided  that  troops  sent  from  Spain  to 


376  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

Peru  or  Eio  de  la  Plata  should  return  after  four 
years  including  the  time  of  the  outward  and 
home  voyage.  Jauregui  was  succeeded  in  tho 
viceregal  office  by  Teodoro  de  Croix  on  the  3d  of 
April,  1784.  Twenty-four  days  later  he  died  as 
the  result  of  a  violent  accident. 

Teodoro  de  Croix  gave  his  chief  attention  to 
internal  reforms  and  material  improvements.  He 
caused  an  audiencia  to  be  installed  at  Cuzco.  The 
oidores  on  their  arrival  in  the  city  were  greeted 
with  great  manifestations  of  rejoicing,  and  the 
coming  of  the  royal  seal  a  little  later  was  made 
the  occasion  of  the  usual  elaborate  ceremony  that 
attended  its  reception.  The  viceroy  caused  a 
cabildo  to  be  created  in  Tarma  and  also  in  Huaraz. 
He  applied  the  ordinance  of  intendants  to  Peru; 
made  certain  long-discussed  improvements  of  the 
harbor  at  Callao ;  formed  a  project  for  construct- 
ing a  system  of  sewers  for  Lima,  but  in  under- 
taking to  carry  out  his  plan  he  encountered  insur- 
mountable difficulties.  He  had  to  deal  with  the 
irrepressible  question  of  monopolies  and  taxes, 
arising  here  as  it  had  arisen  elsewhere,  and 
always  exciting  a  hostile  controversy.  He  had  to 
execute  the  royal  order  of  January  20, 1784,  which 
provided  that  no  foreign  ship  would  be  permitted 
to  enter  the  ports  of  the  Spanish  dominions  of  the 
Indies  under  any  pretext  whatsoever.  It  was 
under  this  order  that  Bias  Gonzalez,  the  governor 
of  the  island  of  Juan  Fernandez,  was  condemned 
for  harboring  the  disabled  Columbia  while  it  was 


PERU  AND  CHILE  377 

undergoing  repairs.  By  a  royal  decree  of  the 
following  year,  May  10,  1785,  the  organization  of 
the  Philippine  Company  was  announced.  The 
first  ship  of  this  company  to  enter  Callao  from 
Manila  was  called  the  Hercules;  it  was  assigned 
to  the  Count  of  San  Isidro." 

Viceroy  Croix  entered  with  excessive  zeal  upon 
the  execution  of  the  order  of  August  10,  1785, 
concerning  printing  and  the  possession  of  books. 
In  obedience  to  the  terms  of  this  decree  he  caused 
to  be  collected  and  burned  all  copies  that  could 
be  found  of  the  works  of  Montesquieu,  Raynal, 
Machiavelli,  and  other  works,  like  the  Encyclo- 
peclie,  that  seemed  to  contain  doctrines  endanger- 
ing the  stability  of  the  state.  Some  of  the  owners 
of  these  works  were  accustomed  to  keep  them  in 
secret  receptacles,  in  hollow  beams  or  in  hidden 
places  in  the  walls  of  their  houses.  This  decree 
required,  moreover,  that  no  printed  paper  or 
document  of  any  kind  should  be  issued  without 
permission  given  by  the  government.  The  vice- 
roy entered  into  an  agreement  with  the  Inquisi- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  uniting  the  forces  of  these 
two  agencies  in  the  attempt  to  prohibit  the  impor- 
tation of  prohibited  books.  A  joint  committee 
was  organized  and  commissioned  to  examine  all 
public  libraries  and  withdraw  such  works  as  in 
the  opinion  of  this  committee  ought  not  to  be 
circulated.  These  measures  appearing  when  the 
intellectual  revolt  of  the  late  eighteenth  century 

2Mendiburu,  II,  443. 


378  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

was  in  full  swing  tended  rather  to  widen  than  to 
close  the  breach  between  the  colonies  and  the 
1/      mother  country. 

The  production  of  the  mines  had  declined  to 
such  an  extent  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  that  Charles  III  saw  the  need  of  making 
a  special  effort  to  revive  the  industry.  For  this 
purpose  he  called  Baron  von  Nordenfiicht  from 
Curland  to  Madrid  in  1788  and  sent  him  to  Peru 
as  chief  of  a  metallurgical  commission.  Norden- 
fiicht was  born  in  Prussia.  On  this  Peruvian 
expedition  he  was  accompanied  by  a  number  of 
chemists  and  metallurgists,  who,  in  1791,  estab- 
lished a  chemical  laboratory  at  Lima  for  the 
instruction  of  youth.  At  the  mines  of  Potosi  the 
commission  undertook  to  put  in  practice  a  system 
of  exploitation  that  would  produce  more  satisfac- 
tory results  than  those  hitherto  followed.  But 
the  expected  results,  neither  in  instruction  nor  in 
the  practical  business  of  mining,  were  realized, 
and  Nordenfiicht  withdrew  from  America  after  a 
number  of  years,  with  a  greatly  diminished  repu- 
tation. 

Viceroy  Gil  de  Taboada  y  Lemus,  of  the  royal 
navy,  arrived  at  Cartagena  January  1,  1789. 
While  there  he  received  the  extensive  Memoria 
prepared  by  his  predecessor,  Gongora,  who  had 
held  the  two  offices  of  archbishop  and  viceroy  of 
New  Granada.  After  an  uneventful  career  of 
seven  months  as  the  head  of  the  government  of 
New  Granada,  he  relinquished  his  authority,  and 
assumed  the  duties  of  viceroy  of  Peru. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  379 

II 

The  awakening  interest  in  literary  cultivation 
was  encouraged  by  Viceroy  Francisco  Gil  de 
Taboada  y  Lemus.  He  approved  the  project  to 
establish  a  periodical  publication  designed  to  pre- 
sent articles  relating  to  the  state  and  progress  of 
the  kingdom.  He,  moreover,  offered  from  the 
archives  and  from  the  various  offices  and  vice- 
regal institutions  such  information  as  might  be 
desired  for  publication.  Through  the  efforts  of 
an  interested  company  of  persons  under  the 
patronage  of  the  viceroy  the  Mercurio  Peruana 
came  into  existence.  A  few  months  before  it 
appeared  there  had  been  issued  a  periodical  called 
the  Diario  erudito,  that  began  to  be  published 
October  1,  1790.  It  was  issued  by  a  society  known 
as  ''Filopolita. "  Its  existence  was  limited  to 
about  two  years.  The  obstacles  to  its  continuing 
were  lack  of  funds  and  the  rigorous  official  censor- 
ship exercised  over  all  articles  submitted  for  pub- 
lication. This  censorship  was  so  firmly  fixed  in 
the  order  of  affairs  that  not  even  the  viceroy  was 
competent  to  set  it  aside.^ 

The  first  number  of  the  Mercurio  Peruana  was 
issued  on  the  2nd  of  January,  1791.  An  associa- 
tion known  as  the  Saciedad  de  Amantes  del  Pais 
was  formed  to  guarantee  the  permanency  of  the 
publication.  The  number  of  members  was  limited 
to  thirty.    Twenty-one  of  them  were  required  to 

8Mendiburu,  IV,  70. 


380  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

be  residents  of  Lima,  and  persons  of  literary 
attainments.  After  the  completion  of  twelve 
volumes,  the  publication  was  suspended  in  1796/ 
Another  publication  of  the  period  in  question 
was  El  Seminario  critico,  undertaken  by  Padre 
Antonio  Olavarrieta.  It  was  announced  as  de- 
signed to  discuss  questions  relating  to  education, 
public  customs,  and  in  general  the  social  affairs 
of  the  community.  From  1793  to  1798  Dr.  Unanue 
edited  and  caused  to  be  published  an  annual 
official  guide.  In  1793  the  viceroy  made  arrange- 
ment for  the  publication  of  the  Gaceta  de  Lima. 
It  was  said  that  the  ''alarming  events  of  the 
French  nation"  made  this  periodical  necessary, 
"in  order  that  the  capital  and  the  viceroyalty 
might  have  an  accredited  journal  through  which 
the  inhabitants  might  inform  themselves  concern- 
ing the  excesses  that  are  now  reported  to  their 
ears  in  an  informal  manner.'"  The  Gaceta  was 
continued  until  1821,  publishing  only  such  matters 
as  were  found  to  be  agreeable  to  the  government, 
and  not  hesitating  to  present  information  in  a 
garbled  form.  In  1791  there  was  also  formed  an 
association  of  writers  called  "Tertulia  poetica." 
The  viceroy  extended  to  it  his  patronage  and 
support.  It  held  frequent  meetings,  where  the 
members  submitted  their  compositions  for  exam- 
ination.    Some  of  these  were  found  worthy  of 

4  Mercurio  Peruano,  February  27,  and  March  20,  1794.  The 
names  of  the  members  of  the  society  are  given  by  Mendiburu, 
IV,  70. 

5  Memorias  de  los  vireyes,  VI,  97. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  381 

publication  in  the  Mercurio  Peruana  but  the  asso- 
ciation itself  had  only  a  brief  existence. 

The  establishment  of  the  Gaceta  was  not  the 
only  act  the  viceroy  was  induced  to  take  by  the 
events  of  the  French  Revolution;  he  was  moved 
also  to  create  a  secret  police  in  Lima,  whose  func- 
tion was  to  find  out  the  subjects  of  public  and 
private  communications  among  the  inhabitants, 
and  to  keep  a  careful  watch  over  the  books  and 
other  writings  that  were  brought  into  the  coun- 
try. The  members  of  this  force  were  enjoined 
especially  to  prevent  the  circulation  of  The  Rights 
of  Man,  that  Nariiio  had  printed  and  made  known 
in  New  Granada.  It  was  also  made  the  business 
of  the  secret  police  to  take  account  of  all  persons 
who  had  entered  the  kingdom  after  1790,  and  to 
inquire  into  their  manner  of  life.  The  viceroy 
issued  an  order  prohibiting  the  game  of  pelota, 
in  order  to  prevent  the  assembling  of  discontented 
persons  at  the  courts. 

In  his  Memoria  to  his  successor.  Viceroy  Gil 
set  forth  the  advantages  for  Peru  and  the  royal 
treasury  of  direct  trade  with  Spain  by  way  of 
Cape  Horn.  Through  statements  published  in  the 
Mercurio,  the  inhabitants  of  Peru  had  their  first 
opportunity  to  learn  the  relation  of  their  imports 
to  their  exports.  According  to  this  source,  during 
the  lustrum  from  1785  to  1789  the  imports  from 
Spain  amounted  to  42,099,313  pesos,  while  the 
exports  to  the  Peninsula  were  valeud  at  35,979,339 
pesos.    These  exports  were  in  money  and  products 


382  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

of  the  country.  During  the  lustrum  from  1790 
to  1794,  the  imports  amounted  to  29,091,220  pesos, 
and  the  exports  to  31,889,500  pesos.  The  greater 
part  of  the  exports  in  both  cases  consisted  in  gold 
and  silver  both  coined  and  in  other  forms.'' 


Ill 

Viceroy  Gil  turned  over  the  affairs  of  the  vice- 
regal office,  on  the  6th  of  June,  1796,  to  Lieutenant- 
General  Ambrosio  O'Higgins,  the  Marquis  of 
Osorno.  O'Higgins  came  to  Peru  from  Chile, 
where  he  had  held  the  office  of  governor  and 
captain-general.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  Chilean  captains-general,  the 
person  who  made  the  most  profound  impression 
on  the  affairs  of  Chile,  entered  upon  the  duties  of 
his  office  at  an  age  when  public  officials  are  often 
supposed  to  have  outlived  the  period  of  their 
greatest  usefulness.  This  man  was  Ambrosio 
O'Higgins,  who  was  born  in  Ireland  in  1720.  The 
agitation  against  the  Catholics  in  Ireland,  their 
exclusion  from  public  offices,  and  other  limitation 
of  their  civil  and  political  rights  persuaded  him, 
as  many  others  had  been  persuaded,  to  emigrate, 
and  seek  to  establish  himself  in  a  foreign  country. 
Spain  received  him  hospitably  and  assigned  him 

6  Statistics  relating  to  the  reign  of  Viceroy  Gil  de  Taboada  y 
Lemus  may  be  referred  to  in  the  Mercurio  Peruano,  in  the  vice- 
roy's Memoria  to  his  successor  (Memorias  de  los  vireyes,  VI),  and 
in  Mendiburu's  monograph  on  the  viceroy  in  Die.  Biog.,  IV, 
69-103. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  383 

a  position  in  the  army.  A  few  years  later  he  went 
to  Peru,  interested  in  a  mercantile  venture.  This 
resulted  disastrously,  and  in  1761  he  sought  occu- 
pation in  Chile  where  Governor  Barroeta  gave 
him  a  subordinate  position  as  engineer.  After 
twenty-seven  years  of  eflScient  service,  he  was 
appointed  captain-general  of  Chile  and  after  a 
vigorous  administration  of  eight  years  he  was 
promoted,  in  1796,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  to 
the  office  of  viceroy  of  Peru.  This  office  he  held 
nearly  five  years,  until  his  death  in  1801. 

In  the  later  years  of  the  colonies  the  king  of 
Spain  sought  to  promote  to  the  highest  offices  per- 
sons who  had  experience  in  either  the  civil  or 
military  service  of  the  Indies.  At  the  time  of 
his  appointment  to  the  office  of  captain-general, 
O'Higgins  had  served  many  years  as  an  engineer, 
a  military  officer,  and  an  intendant,  and  had  be- 
come familiar  with  the  character  and  needs  of  the 
different  parts  of  the  Chilean  territory. 

This  policy  doubtless  helped  to  make  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  colonies  more  efficient,  at  the  same 
time  the  colonists,  in  so  far  as  they  could  think  of 
the  government  as  embracing  many  officials  long 
familiar  with  their  affairs,  were  disposed  to  think 
of  it  as  their  government.  Under  this  view  they 
would  assume  that  a  viceroy,  a  captain-general,  or 
a  judge  sent  from  Spain  without  American  experi- 
ence, was  not  in  sympathy  with  it.  Thus  the 
carrying  out  of  this  very  reasonable  policy  could 
not  but   emphasize   the   distinction  between   the 


384  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

Spanish  rule  and  a  local  or  domestic  administra- 
tion. 

The  northern  part  of  Chile  had  not  been 
visited  by  any  of  the  previous  governors  or  cap- 
tains-general, while  the  southern  districts,  lying 
between  the  Araucanian  frontier  and  the  capital, 
had  been  constantly  within  the  range  of  the 
captain-general's  observation.  The  expeditions 
against  the  Araucanians  had  crossed  these  dis- 
tricts, and,  through  the  numerous  conferences 
with  the  Indians,  this  region  had  been  kept  in 
mind  by  both  parties.  But  the  northern  end  of 
the  territory  had  remained  in  isolation,  and  both 
the  economical  atfairs  and  the  aifairs  of  the  ad- 
ministration needed  the  supervision  and  stimulus 
of  the  central  government.  The  fact  that  the 
captain-general  made  this  northern  journey  of 
hundreds  of  leagues  over  a  region  with  few  roads, 
studying  the  needs  of  the  inhabitants  and  seeking 
to  promote  their  material  interests  in  all  possible 
ways,  is  a  sufficient  indication  of  the  zeal  and  force 
which  he  brought  to  the  task  of  government. 

IV 

In  the  long  course  of  the  Araucanian  war 
treaties  had  been  made  from  time  to  time,  but 
they  were  rarely  more  than  temporary  inter- 
ruptions of  hostilities.  These  interruptions  per- 
mitted the  belligerents  to  recover  from  their 
losses  and  make  ready  for  a  new  attack  with  re- 


PERU  AND  CHILE  385 

newed  force.  In  the  conflict  the  rules  of  warfare 
that  prevail  among  civilized  nations  were  dis- 
regarded. Both  parties  kept  forces  on  the  fron- 
tier, made  raids  at  every  opportunity  into  the 
enemy's  territory,  and  committed  all  kinds  of 
depredations.  Neither  party  trusted  the  promises 
of  the  other,  and  time  seemed  only  to  increase 
the  bitterness  of  their  hostility.  In  this  state 
of  affairs  the  southern  districts  might  not  be 
neglected.  Moreover,  the  almost  continouus  war- 
fare had  a  very  marked  influence  on  the  military 
arm  of  the  colony.  It  made  the  militia  a  vital 
and  active  force.  Imminent  war  made  military 
discipline  possible.  / 

As  a  means  of  establishing  peace  between  the 
two  races,  Jauregui,  when  he  became  captain- 
general  in  1773,  caused  four  Araucanian  chiefs  to 
be  brought  to  Santiago  as  ambassadors  represent- 
ing the  various  Indian  tribes.  It  was  intended 
that  these  chiefs  should  be  witnesses  to  the  dis- 
position of  the  Spaniards  to  deal  fairly  with  their 
neighbors ;  that  they  should  be  employed  as  medi- 
ators or  interpreters  in  future  negotiations;  and 
that  through  them  the  complaints  of  the  Indians 
might  be  carried  to  the  Spanish  authorities.  They 
should  be  clothed  and  supported  at  the  expense  of 
the  government.  They  arrived  at  Santiago  in 
April,  1774,  and  were  placed  under  the  protection 
of  the  local  authorities;  and  the  public  was 
solemnly  ordered,  under  severe  penalties,  not  to 
show  them  any  disrespect.    This  plan  received  the 


386  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

endorsement  of  the  viceroy  of  Peru,  but  there 
were  not  wanting  persons  who  saw  that  it  in- 
volved an  overestimate  of  the  civilization  of  the 
Indians  and  was  consequently  visionary.  It  was, 
nevertheless,  confirmed  by  an  agreement  between 
the  Indians  and  the  Spaniards  made  at  the  con- 
ference in  1774.  In  this  agreement  it  was  stipu- 
lated that  peace  should  be  maintained  among  the 
various  Indian  tribes,  and  that  the  Indians  should 
send  their  sons  to  be  educated  in  a  school  to  be 
opened  in  Santiago  for  this  purpose.  The  Arau- 
canians,  however,  hesitated  to  comply  with  the 
provision  respecting  the  education  of  their  sons. 
The  few  who  were  sent  to  Santiago  acquired  a 
certain  amount  of  elementary  knowledge;  but 
difficulties  arose  when  attempts  were  made  to  give 
them  more  advanced  instruction.  It  was  found 
that  the  barbarian  was  only  a  good  beginner  in 
learning.  In  1780  the  Santiago  school  for  Indians 
was  transferred  to  Chilian. 


With  respect  to  agricultural  reform,  O'Hig- 
gins  entertained  certain  ideas  and  plans  that, 
under  the  prevailing  natural  conditions,  could  not 
be  fully  carried  out.  He  seems  to  have  exagger- 
ated the  possibilities  of  governmental  influence  in 
economic  affairs.  His  efforts  to  foster  the  pro- 
duction of  sugar  was  a  case  in  point.  In  some  of 
the  northern  valleys  where  it  was  planted  on  a 


PERU  AND  CHILE  387 

small  scale,  the  enterprise  was  in  a  measure 
successful;  but  the  attempt  to  create  larger  plan- 
tations in  other  districts  encountered  difficulties, 
and  the  cultivation  was  abandoned  after  three  or 
four  years  of  experiment.  The  efforts  to  extend 
the  production  of  rice  had  no  better  result,  and 
the  attempt  to  introduce  the  cultivation  of  tobacco 
met  with  an  insurmountable  obstacle  in  a  royal 
decree  of  prohibition  issued  in  the  interest  of  the 
existing  monopoly.  The  motive  in  these  and  other 
proposed  agricultural  reforms  was  the  betterment 
of  the  condition  of  the  people ;  and,  although  some 
of  the  specific  undertakings  were  unsuccessful, 
attention  was  called  to  the  need  of  more  careful 
cultivation. 

But  more  important  for  the  social  well-being 
of  Chile  was  the  eifort  of  the  captain-general  to 
set  aside  the  abuses  of  the  encomiendas,  and  even 
to  abolish  the  system  itself.  In  the  beginning  this 
system  was  thought  to  be  necessary  in  order  to 
provide  laborers  for  the  fields  and  the  mines ;  for 
it  was  understood  that  the  Indians,  like  all  sav- 
ages, lacked  the  habit  of  consecutive  work,  and 
that  compulsion  would  be  necessary  to  make  them 
persistent  laborers.  The  power  to  compel  the 
Indians  to  work  having  been  granted  to  the 
encomenderos,  there  remained  no  practical 
obstacle  to  making  them  slaves,  and  to  this  posi- 
tion they  were  reduced  with  all  the  attendant 
miseries  that  have  become  historic.  But  after 
two  hundred  years  and  more,  a  class  of  persons 


388  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

had  come  into  existence  who  were  accustomed  to 
obtain  their  livelihood  by  more  or  less  regular 
work.  The  reason  for  compulsory  labor  origin- 
ally advanced  was  no  longer  valid,  and  it  is  to  the 
credit  of  the  captain-general  as  an  administrator 
that  he  gave  a  powerful  impulse  to  the  movement 
for  abolishing  this  system. 

The  encomenderos  carried  to  the  King  their 
protests  against  the  action  of  the  governor,  but 
O'Higgins  by  frequent  reports  kept  the  king  in- 
formed of  his  motives  in  this  reform,  and  of  the 
advisability  of  causing  it  to  be  adopted  through- 
out Spain's  American  possessions. 

The  fact  that  the  initiative  in  a  reform  as 
important  as  this  was  taken  by  a  governor  of  a 
dependency  in  America  indicates  that  the  Spanish 
rule  was  declining,  and  that  local  authority  in 
local  affairs  was  leading  the  rule  of  the  king.  By 
a  decree  of  April  3, 1791,  Charles  IV  approved  the 
action  taken  by  the  governor  of  Chile,  and  by  a 
later  decree,  June  10,  of  the  same  year  he  ordered 
that  the  encomiendas  of  private  persons  should  be 
definitely  suppressed. 

VI 

While  the  captain-general  was  engaged  in 
these  and  other  internal  reforms,  the  coming  of 
foreign  vessels  to  participate  in  the  trade  of  the 
colony  provoked  the  opposition  of  the  officials  both 
in  Chile  and  Peru.    Even  the  presence  of  foreign 


PERU  AND  CHILE  389 

vessels  excited  alarm,  whether  they  came  to  trade 
or  merely  halted  at  a  Spanish-American  port 
on  their  way  to  another  destination.  In  1788 
an  American  vessel  named  Columbia,  battered 
by  storms,  put  into  the  port  of  the  island  of 
Juan  Fernandez.  The  governor  of  the  island. 
Bias  Gonzalez,  permitted  repairs  to  be  made. 
Although  the  vessel  was  bound  for  Alaska,  and 
had  no  design  to  trade  at  the  ports  of  South 
America,  Governor  Gonzalez  was  deposed  and 
tried  for  having  furnished  succor  to  the  distressed 
vessel.  The  viceroy  had  no  warships  with  which 
to  pursue  strange  vessels,  but  a  ship  furnished  by 
a  merchant  of  Lima  was  armed  and  sent  to  Juan 
Fernandez;  it  failed  to  find  any  offenders.  The 
coming  of  foreign  vessels  from  the  United  States 
was  opposed  by  the  authorities  not  merely  because 
they  would  tend  to  overthrow  the  ancient  trade 
regime,  but  also  because  they  would  help  to  propa- 
gate the  political  ideas  of  the  young  republic,  and 
thus  contribute  to  the  destruction  of  the  Spanish 
colonial  system. 

During  the  last  decades  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, the  radical  philosophy  of  the  time,  as 
already  indicated,  was  gradually  modifying  the 
ideas  of  the  Spanish  colonists,  while  the  kings  of 
Spain  continued  to  think  as  their  ancestors  of 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  thought. 
They  held  that  the  cession  of  Alexander  VI  and 
their  conquests  made  them  absolute  masters  of 
their    American    possessions    and    the    exclusive 


390  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

lords  of  the  adjacent  oceans.  But  the  colonists 
had  already  begun  to  regard  this  view  as  a  fiction ; 
for  they  saw  that  foreigners  did  navigate  these 
seas  and  trade  at  colonial  ports  in  spite  of  the 
^  royal  prohibition.  They  saw  also  that  the  demand 
of  the  increased  population  could  not  be  satisfied 
by  Spanish  traders  dealing  solely  in  Spanish 
;  wares.  But,  although  unable  to  meet  the  require- 
ment of  the  colonists,  Spain  still  persisted  in  her 
/attempt  to  exclude  foreign  trade  and  foreign 
ideas,  with  the  inevitable  result  of  alienating  her 
transatlantic  subjects,  and  weakening  her  control 
over  them. 

After  the  Columbia  other  ships  appeared  off 
the  coast,  and  when  these  were  reported  to  the 
king,  he  again  ordered  the  colonial  authorities  to 
prevent  foreign  vessels  from  navigating  Ameri- 
can waters  or  from  approaching  the  ports.  But 
the  efforts  of  the  colonial  government  were  in- 
effective, the  contraband  trade  was  continued ;  and 
the  colonists,  finding  the  supply  of  desired  wares 
increased  by  it,  were  not  in  sympathy  with  the 
order  of  prohibition.  On  the  etiquette  of  certain 
packages  introduced  from  the  United  States 
appeared  the  figure  of  a  woman  holding  a  flag, 
with  the  motto,  ''American  Liberty."  This  fact, 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  king,  induced  him 
once  more  to  issue  his  futile  injunction  against 
contraband  trade. 

While  the  inhabitants  of  the  viceroyalty  were 
contemplating  the  results  that  might  proceed  from 


PERU  AND  CHILE  391 

the  encroachments  of  foreigners  it  was  announced 
that  Charles  III  was  dead.  He  had  died  in  Decem- 
ber, 1788,  but  information  of  the  fact  did  not  reach 
Chile  and  Peru  until  April  of  the  following  year. 
After  elaborate  funeral  ceremonies  had  been  had 
in  the  capital  cities,  preperations  were  made  to 
celebrate  the  accession  of  Charles  IV.  The 
enthusiastic  chronicler  of  these  ceremonies  in 
Chile  affirmed  that  persons  familiar  with  the 
grandeur  of  the  most  important  courts  and  cities 
of  both  worlds  maintained  that  nowhere  else  had 
they  seen  such  magnificence  as  was  here  displayed. 
This  was  the  last  occasion  of  this  kind  on  which 
public  enthusiasm  was  especially  manifest;  for 
when  Ferdinand  VII,  the  son  and  successor  of 
Charles  IV,  ascended  the  throne  in  1808,  the 
Spanish  monarchy  was  already  falling  under  the 
shadow  of  Napoleon 's  expanding  empire,  and  the 
loyalty  of  the  people  was  undermined  by  the 
spread  of  revolutionary  doctrines. 

The  fear  of  foreign  encroachment  had  already 
led  the  authorities  of  the  viceroyalty  to  petition 
the  king  to  send  them  arms  and  ammunition. 
O'Higgins  repeated  this  request,  and  acting  on 
orders  from  the  king  the  viceregal  government 
proceeded  to  put  the  coast  in  a  state  of  defense; 
for  active  hostilities  appeared  to  be  imminent  in 
1789  as  a  result  of  the  controversy  between  Eng- 
land and  Spain  concerning  the  possession  of  a 
part  of  the  island  of  Vancouver.  The  Spanish 
government,  in  withdrawing  its  pretensions,  con- 


392  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

ceded  to  the  English  the  right  to  fish  in  the  Pacific 
and  at  the  same  time  to  make  use  temporarily  of 
certain  points  on  the  coast  that  were  not  occupied 
by  the  Spaniards.  In  order  to  prevent  this  con- 
cession from  serving  as  a  pretext  for  unlawful 
trade  with  the  Spanish  colonies,  it  was  expressly 
stipulated  that  English  subjects  should  not  navi- 
gate the  Pacific  within  ten  maritime  leagues  of 
any  jDoint  of  the  coast  occupied  by  the  Spanish. 
This  concession  gave  English  vessels  recognized 
rights  on  the  Spanish-American  coast,  but  the 
Spanish  authorities  found  it  difficult  to  confine 
them  within  the  limits  of  these  rights ;  for  vessels 
that  came  ostensibly  to  fish  were  naturally  led  to 
engage  in  the  much  more  profitable  business  of 
smuggling,  and  the  government  was  not  in  a 
position  to  prevent  them. 

VII 

On  the  16th  of  May,  1796,  O'Higgins  surren- 
dered his  functions  as  head  of  the  government  of 
Chile  into  the  hands  of  the  regent  of  the  audiencia, 
who  exercised  them  until  the  arrival  of  O'Hig- 
gins' successor,  the  Marquis  of  Aviles.  He 
entered  Lima  as  the  viceroy  of  Peru  on  the  24th 
of  July,  and  thus,  clothed  with  the  highest  official 
dignity  in  the  New  World,  he  came  back  to  the  city 
where  in  poverty  he  had  attempted  unsuccessfully 
to  enter  upon  a  very  humble  mercantile  career. 
It  was  in  the  first  year  of  his  administration  that 


PERU  AND  CHILE  393 

the  intendency  of  Puno  was  withdrawn  from  the 
vieeroyalty  of  Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  added  to  the 
territory  of  Peru.  Although  he  was  seventy-six 
years  of  age  on  his  arrival  in  Lima,  the  activity 
he  had  displayed  in  Chile  appears  to  have  suffered 
no  abatement.  He  caused  a  fort  to  be  constructed 
at  Pisco,  and  manned  it  with  a  force  of  artillery ; 
he  strengthened  the  fortress  of  Callao,  armed  cer- 
tain vessels  of  war,  established  a  camp  for  the 
instruction  and  discipline  of  troops,  and  con- 
structed barracks  for  soldiers  at  Lima.  His  sup- 
port of  mills  for  spinning  cotton,  flax,  and  hemp, 
that  had  been  established  by  a  company,  indicates 
a  certain  emancipation  from  the  restraints  im- 
posed by  the  government  in  Spain.  He  saw  more 
clearly  than  most  of  his  predecessors  the  economic 
advantage  of  good  roads.  In  Chile  he  had  found 
the  country  almost  wholly  without  roads;  they 
existed  only  in  and  immediately  around  the  cities. 
The  Spanish  colonists  everywhere  were  generally 
content  to  travel  or  to  transport  their  goods  on 
beasts  of  burden.  Even  between  Valparaiso  and 
Santiago  there  was  no  wagon  road  before  the  last 
decade  of  the  century.  O'Higgins  had  to  make 
this  journey  three  times  during  the  first  two 
years  of  his  rule  as  captain-general,  and  these 
journeys  were  sufficient  to  make  him  appreciate 
the  need  of  a  road  suited  to  vehicles  on  wheels. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  capital  of  Chile,  as  the 
foreign  trade  of  the  country  increased,  recognized 
the  advantage  that  would  accrue  to  them  from 


394  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

better  means  of  transportation;  but  when  it  was 
proposed  to  begin  the  construction,  the  captain- 
general  encountered  two  obstacles;  the  lack  of 
funds  and  the  unwillingness  of  many  proprietors 
to  have  the  road  traverse  their  lands.  Finally, 
however,  certain  funds  were  obtained  by  imposing 
a  slight  additional  tax  on  goods  imported  and 
exported  at  Valparaiso,  and  some  of  the  proprie- 
tors were  made  to  see  that  their  prejudices  were 
groundless,  and  that  the  road  would  be  a  benefit 
rather  than  an  injury.  The  work  of  construction 
was  begun  in  1792. 

Two  years  later  Captain  Vancouver  passed 
over  this  road  going  form  Valparaiso  to  Santiago. 

"The  making  of  the  new  road,"  he  wrote, 
*'had  doubtless  been  a  work  of  great  labor,  and 
to  a  people  who  are  not  very  industriously  in- 
clined, and  who  are  all  bigoted  to  former  practices 
and  original  habits,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the 
manifest  advantages  that  must  result  to  the  in- 
habitants of  the  country  from  his  Excellency's 
wise  undertaking,  should  be  overlooked,  or  rather 
not  be  seen  by  them ;  and  that  the  execution  of  his 
judicious  plan  should  have  deprived  him,  amongst 
the  lower  orders  of  the  people,  of  much  of  his 
popularity. ' " 

In  Peru  itself  O'Higgins  found  the  roads  in  a 
lamentable  state,  and  undertook  to  improve  them. 
He  built  a  new  road  from  Lima  to  Callao,  the 
most  elaborate  of  all  of  his  constructions  of  this 

7  A  Voyage  of  Discovery,  VI,  258. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  395 

kind.  The  end  at  the  entrance  of  the  city  was 
adorned  with  an  architectural  gate  bearing  the 
royal  arms  and  the  arms  of  Lima  and  the  con- 
sulado. 

VIII 

The  population  of  Peru  at  the  end  of  the 
century,  according  to  Humboldt's  estimate,  was 
1,200,000.*  Negroes  and  mestizos,  particularly  at 
Lima,  formed  a  considerable  part  of  the  inhab- 
itants ;  and  there  were  about  400,000  Indians.  The 
population  of  Chile  is  set  down  in  the  returns  of 
the  first  census  as  259,646  in  1778.  The  estimate 
for  the  end  of  the  century  is  approximately 
400,000,  counting  the  Spaniards,  the  Creoles  and 
the  mestizos.  The  presence  of  the  alien  and  mixed 
races,  in  this  viceroyalty  as  elsewhere  in  Spanish 
America,  made  the  Spaniards  especially  solicitous 
to  maintain  lines  of  social  distinction.  The 
coexistence  of  these  classes  created  a  prejudice  in 
the  Spanish  mind  against  many  kinds  of  work, 
thus  giving  to  the  society  of  the  viceroyalty  the 
spirit  characteristic  of  communities  composed  of 
slave-holders  and  slaves.  The  Spaniards  refused 
to  engage  in  certain  occupations  that  were  honor- 
able in  themselves,  because  they  were  accepted 
by  persons  of  color,  suffering  any  degree  of  pov- 
erty rather  than  do  violence  to  their  prejudices. 

8  Humboldt  to  Viceroy  Mendinueta,  November  7,  1802,  printed 
by  Groot,  II,  Appendix  No.  47;  Memorias  de  los  vireyes,  Lima, 
1859,  VI,  4.  . 


396  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

The  persons  who  constituted  a  subject  class 
were  Indians,  mulattos,  and  negroes.  They  were 
required  to  pay  tribute.  The  mestizo  was  no 
farther  removed  from  the  Spaniard  than  the 
mulatto,  yet  he  was  not  under  this  obligation.  The 
basis  of  this  ditference  was  the  Spaniard's  differ- 
ent estimates  of  the  Indians  and  the  negroes.  The 
Spanish-Indian  union  might  produce  a  child  des- 
tined to  freedom.  The  Spanish-negro  union  might 
produce  only  a  member  of  a  subject  class.  The 
mestizos  formed  the  bulk  of  the  free  laboring 
class,  the  artisans,  and  the  subalterns  in  the  offices 
of  administration.^ 

The  long  discussion  concerning  the  relation  of 
the  Indians  to  the  Europeans,  particularly  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  viceroyalty,  finally  culmin- 
ated in  1791  in  the  abolition  of  personal  service 
and  the  incorporation  of  the  encomiendas  in  the 
crown.  This  last  act  was,  in  fact,  a  revocation  of 
the  privilege  enjoyed  by  the  encomenderos  of 
holding  Indians  for  service  on  their  lands.  The 
decree  making  these  changes  provided  also  for 
alloting  to  the  Indians  such  lands  as  might  be 
necessary,  when  cultivated,  for  their  support.^" 

One  of  the  beneficient  eifects  of  this  measure 
was  the  pacification  of  the  Araucanians,  who  had 
been  stimulated  by  the  cruelties  inflicted  on  their 
compatriots  to  maintain  themselves  in  a  state  of 
hostility  towards  the  Spaniards.    An  equally  pro- 

0  See   Amunategui,    Los   Precursores    de    la   independencia   de 
Chile,  Santiago  de  Chile,  1910,  III,  15. 

10  This  edict  is  printed  in  Amunategui,  Los  Precursores,  II,  493. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  397 

yoking  cause  of  this  hostility  was  the  reluctance 
of  the  Indians  to  depart  from  their  ancient  man- 
ner of  living,  a  change  destined  inevitably  to 
follow  the  encroachment  of  their  northern  neigh- 
bors. Having  been  brought  by  this  measure  into 
a  friendly  attitude  with  respect  to  the  power  they 
had  known  for  many  decades,  they  might  be 
expected  to  adhere  to  it  rather  than  to  go  over 
to  a  party  that  seemed  to  be  opposed  to  it.  Thus 
the  Araucanians  appear  in  sjmipathy  with  the 
royalists  rather  than  with  those  who  were  hostile 
to  the  legitimate  government.  Although  the 
revolutionary  party  as  developed  later  drew  no 
physical  support  from  the  Araucanians,  the  heroic 
struggle  of  that  people  to  preserve  its  indepen- 
dence encouraged  the  revolutionists  to  persist  in 
their  cause.  Ercilla,  in  Araucana,  wrote  to  mag- 
nify the  power  and  glory  of  Spain,  but  the 
characters  and  the  deeds  that  stand  out  conspicu- 
ously in  the  poem,  and  that  furnished  an  inspira- 
tion to  Chilean  patriotism  are  the  characters  and 
deeds  of  Araucanians.  In  the  early  years  of  the 
revolutionary  movement,  there  were  many  evi- 
dences of  this  influence.  Parents  caused  their 
children  to  be  baptized  with  the  names  of  Caupo- 
lican,  Lautaro,  Tucapel,  and  of  other  Indians 
who  had  achieved  fame  in  the  long  conflict.  The 
examples  of  these  heroes  as  set  forth  by  Ercilla 
and  Chilean  historians  were  cited  in  proclama- 
tions to  awaken  the  zeal  of  Chilean  soldiers  in  the 
cause  of  independence. 


398  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

IX 

A  large  part  of  the  trade  between  Peru  and 
other  dependencies  was  carried  on  by  sea,  chiefly 
from  the  port  of  Callao.  The  merchandise  ex- 
ported consisted  of  textile  fabrics,  sugar,  and  rice. 
The  articles  imported  were  wheat,  tallow,  hides, 
copper,  cordage,  mate,  and  tobacco.  The  mate 
and  tobacco  came  to  Peru  from  Paraguay  by  way 
of  Chile.  The  trade  between  Lima  and  Bogota 
passed  in  part  overland  through  the  province  of 
Quito,  and  in  part  through  the  ports  of  Guayaquil 
and  Panama.  The  viceroyalty  of  New  Granada 
sent  to  Lima,  among  other  things,  cacao  and 
coffee.  The  effect  of  the  liberal  policy  respecting 
trade,  established  in  1778,  and  carried  into  gen- 
eral execution  in  1783,  may  be  seen  in  the  great 
increase  in  shipping  at  Callao.  In  1785  sixteen 
vessels  arrived  at  that  port  with  cargoes  esti- 
mated at  twenty-four  million  dollars.  At  that 
time  the  value  of  the  annual  production  of  gold 
and  silver  in  the  country  was  only  about  four 
million  dollars,  and  these  were  the  principal  com- 
modities produced  that  might  be  exported  to  pay 
for  imports.  Thus  the  zeal  to  embrace  the  new 
opportunities  for  trade  brought  to  Peru  goods  to 
the  value  of  twenty-four  million  dollars  in  a 
period  when  four  million  dollars  represented  the 
normal  consumption  of  imports.  The  result  of 
this  oversupply  was  to  glut  the  market  completely 
and  to  cause  a  temporary  interruption  of  trade. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  399 

In  some  cases  the  wares  could  not  find  a  market 
at  any  price,  and  were  committed  to  the  flames. 
This  was  a  warning  to  shippers,  and  caused  them 
to  withhold  their  goods.  By  this  means  the  im- 
ports were  reduced  to  the  quantity  and  the  kinds 
of  commodities  needed." 

The  Spanish  colonists,  like  the  Spaniards  in 
Spain,  did  not  look  with  favor  on  commercial  or 
industrial  corporations.  They  raised  a  great  out- 
cry against  the  Philippine  Company^^  and  other 
corporations  on  the  ground  that  they  were 
destructive  of  the  commercial  undertakings  of 
private  persons;  that  they  absorbed  all  the  trade 
the  viceroyalty  could  maintain;  and  that  by  their 

11  T/ie  Present  State  of  Peru,  London,  1805,  108-110;  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  a  large  part  of  the  wares  in 
use  in  Lima  were  English.  Writing  from  his  observations  made 
at  the  time,  Stevenson  says  ' '  the  windows  were  glazed  with  Eng- 
lish glass — the  brass  furniture  and  ornaments  on  the  commodes, 
tables,  and  chairs  were  English — the  chintz  or  dimity  hangings, 
the  linen  and  cotton  dresses  of  the  females,  and  the  cloth  coats 
and  cloaks  of  the  men  were  all  English;  the  tables  were  covered 
either  with  plate  or  English  earthenware,  and  English  glass, 
knives,  and  forks;  and  even  the  kitchen  utensils,  if  of  iron,  were 
English;  in  fine,  with  very  few  exceptions,  all  was  either  of 
English  or  South  American  manufacture.  Coarse  cotton,  nankeens, 
and  a  few  other  articles  were  supplied  by  the  Philippine  company. 
Spain  sent  some  iron,  broadcloth,  Barcelona  prints,  linen,  writing 
paper,  silks,  and  ordinary  earthenware.  From  the  Italians  they 
had  silks  and  velvets;  from  the  French,  linens,  lace,  silks,  and 
broadcloth;  from  Germany  linens,  common  cutlery,  and  glass; 
everything  else  was  either  English  or  of  home  manufacture." — 
Twenty  Years  in  South  America,  I,  349. 

12  The  Campania  Filipinas  was  established  in  1785  for  a  period 
of  twenty  years.  It  was  designed  to  carry  on  trade  directly  with 
the  East  Indies.  It  gave  a  powerful  impulse  to  Spanish  commerce. 
— Palacio,  Edward  de,  Espana  desde  el  primer  Borbon  hasta  la 
revolucion  de  Setiembre,  Madrid,  1868,  I,  487. 


400  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

extensive  capital  they  were  enabled  to  sell  at  a 
reduced  price.  It  was  affirmed  that  by  these 
means  they  drove  the  private  trader  to  the  wall." 
The  association  of  capitalists  in  industrial  and 
commecrial  corporations  was  unknown  in  Chile  in 
the  colonial  period.  ' '  There  was  no  other  commer- 
cial association  than  that  of  certain  brothers,  who, 
after  the  death  of  their  fathers,  continued  together 
for  a  certain  number  of  years  in  the  business 
which  their  fathers  had  established.""  There 
were,  moreover,  no  companies  for  insuring  against 
the  risks  of  transportation  by  sea,  or  against 
losses  by  fire.  In  view  of  this  fact  and  the  great 
risks  attending  the  route  around  the  southern  end 
of  the  continent,  in  the  course  of  time  more  and 
more  of  the  wares  imported  from  Europe  were 
carried  by  way  of  Buenos  Aires  and  the  Ajides, 
while  the  sea  route  was  almost  entirely  neglected. 
The  conduct  of  business  was  further  impeded 
by  the  absence  of  a  system  of  credit  and  exchange, 
necessitating  the  actual  transfer  of  coin  for  the 
payment  of  debts,  whether  within  or  without  the 
limits  of  a  province  or  dependency.  The  expor- 
tation of  money  required  by  this  method  of  mak- 
ing pajTuents  sometimes  threatened  to  exhaust  the 
supply  of  currency.  This  difficulty  was  in  a  meas- 
ure set  aside  by  the  circulation  of  clipped  coins 
that  passed  for  their  nominal  value  but  could  not 
be  exported  without  loss.  The  coins  of  circulation 
were  of  the  same  system  as  those  used  in  Spain, 

13  Present  State  of  Peru,  117. 

14  Barros  Arana,  Hist,  de  Chile,  VII,  401. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  401 

but  the  copper  coins  that  circulated  in  Spain  were 
not  employed.  The  attempt  made  in  1781  to  intro- 
duce them  met  with  vigorous  opposition;  and  it 
was  not  until  after  the  establishment  of  the  repub- 
lic that  the  project  to  circulate  copper  coins  was 
resumed  with  success. 

Among  all  the  obstacles  to  industrial  and  com- 
mercial progress,  the  chief  was  the  deadening  grip 
of  Spain's  restrictions.  With  natural  conditions 
that  might  have  been  turned  to  good  account  in 
the  production  of  sugar,  the  Spanish  government 
prohibited  the  introduction  of  material  for  the 
equipment  of  sugar  mills,  and  prohibited  also  the 
construction  of  sugar  refineries  in  Peru.  The  pro- 
hibition of  making  brandy  from  cane  was  de- 
signed as  a  direct  discouragement  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  cane.  This  order  not  proving  effective, 
a  tax  of  twelve  per  cent  was  imposed  upon  brandy, 
and  later  it  was  definitely  decreed  that  Indians 
might  not  work  in  sugar  mills,  and  they  might  not 
be  employed  in  cutting  and  carting  cane  without 
express  governmental  authorization.^^ 

By  a  series  of  decrees  extending  over  many 
decades,  the  cultivation  of  the  grape  and  the 
making  of  wine  were  prohibited,  and  all  these  acts 
of  prohibition  had  one  general  purpose,  namely, 
to  leave  the  markets  of  America  open  to  Spanish 
wine.  It  was,  however,  seen  in  the  course  of  time 
that  these  restrictions  were  disadvantageous  to 
Spain  as  well  as  to  the  colonies,  and  they  were 

15  Leyes  de  Indias,  lib.  6,  tit.  13,  ley  11. 


402  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

relaxed;  yet  even  while  the  laws  existed  without 
modification  they  were  not  completely  effective; 
frequently  they  were  not  obeyed.  But  as  long  as 
they  stood  unrepealed  the  production  of  wine  was 
necessarily  a  precarious  business;  for  it  could 
not  with  entire  safety  be  presumed  that  the  policy 
of  one  viceroy  to  allow  planters  to  ignore  the  law 
would  be  followed  by  his  successor. ^^ 

Although  an  act  of  prohibition  might  be 
directed  to  the  authorities  of  a  specified  captaincy- 
general  or  viceroyalty  to  cure  a  specific  evil  in  the 
district  in  question,  yet  it  w^as  often  the  purpose 
of  the  decree  that  its  application  should  be  gen- 
eral, and  affect  all  regions  where  the  conditions 
to  be  remedied  might  exist.  By  Philip  IV,  the 
prohibition  concerning  the  cultivation  of  the 
grape  had  already  been  made  to  apply  generally, 
when  it  was  ''prohibited  to  plant  vines  in  the 
Indias  Occidentales,  and  ordered  that  the  viceroys 
should  give  no  license  for  new  planting  or  for 
cultivating  the  vines  already  planted.""  An  in- 
dication of  the  declining  force  of  Spanish  law  in 
America  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  vineyards  had 
greatly  increased  in  the  later  decades  of  the  cen- 
tury, in  spite  of  the  general  and  specific  decrees 
of  prohibition. 

The  acts  of  prohibition  by  the  government, 
provoked  by  the  complaints  of  Spaniards,  ran 
directly  counter  to  the  purposes  of  the  Spaniards 

16  Leyes  de  Indi-as,  lib.  4,  tit.  18,  ley  15. 

"i-i  Leyes   de  Indias,  lib.   4,  tit.    17,  ley   18;    Amunategiii,   La 
cronioa  de  1810,  I,  89. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  403 

settled  in  America,  whose  attention  in  the  begin- 
ning was  directed  to  the  cultivation  of  the  various 
grains  and  other  food  products  they  had  used  in 
Spain.  The  lack  of  frequent  communication  with 
any  civilized  country  made  such  cultivation  neces- 
sary to  their  existence  and  thus  as  early  as  1501 
"there  were  cultivated  on  this  continent  wheat, 
rice,  and  all  the  nutrious  grains  of  Spain;  there 
had  been  introduced  the  Spanish  domestic  fowls, 
sheep,  hogs,  goats;  the  ox  and  the  ass  and  the 
horse  aided  man  in  the  cultivation  of  the  fields, 
where  before  he  had  worked  alone. '  '^* 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  government  early 
assumed  an  attitude  of  opposition  to  the  cultiva- 
tion and  use  of  the  coca  plant.  This  was  the 
sacred  tree  of  the  incas,  and  it  was  employed  in 
their  religious  ceremonies.  It  was  conceived  to 
have  power  to  placate  the  anger  of  their  gods. 
The  curling  smoke  of  coca  burning  on  the  altar 
brought  divine  favor ;  and  only  the  priest  chewing 
the  sacred  leaf  could  hear  the  voice  of  the  oracles. 
The  right  to  cultivate  the  coca  plant  belonged  only 
to  the  inca,  son  of  the  sun,  the  Supreme  King,  and 
the  Supreme  Priest.  The  public  action  at  first 
taken  by  the  Spanish  authorities  was  in  some 
sense  prompted  by  ideas  of  religion  and  charity.^^ 

18  Benzoni,  History  of  the  New  World,  91. 

19  <  <  The  plant  grew  in  unhealthy  regions,  and  experience  had 
taught  that  the  Indians  who  went  to  the  coca  plantations,  if  they 
did  not  lose  their  lives,  came  back  to  their  homes  with  weakened 
bodies.  To  seek  to  abolish  the  coca  plantations  was,  therefore,  in 
a  certain  way,  to  spare  the  sufferings  of  the  oppressed  race." — 
Oliveira,  La  politica  econdmica  de  la  metropoli,  34. 


404  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

By  an  ordinance  issued  by  Viceroy  Toledo 
under  royal  authority,  it  was  provided  that  no  per- 
son might  plant  coca.  As  a  penalty  for  violation 
of  this  ordinance,  it  was  ordered  that  the  plants 
should  be  pulled  up  and  burned,  the  culprit  should 
pay  a  fine  of  two  thousand  dollars,  and  he  should 
be  banished  for  four  years.  But  while  the  Indians 
were  prevented  from  working  on  the  coca  planta- 
tions, they  were  permitted  to  work  under  the  much 
more  destructive  conditions  of  the  mines.  The 
reason  of  this  discrimination  may  perhaps  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  the  mines  contributed  one- 
fifth  of  their  product  to  the  king,  while,  in  the 
view  of  the  authorities,  "coca  was  the  diabolical 
instrument  of  superstition."^"  Working  in  the 
mines  might  kill  the  body,  but  the  use  of  coca 
tended  to  demoralize  the  spirit.  The  absurdity 
of  this  legislation  appears  to  have  been  perceived 
at  last  by  the  viceroy  himself,  for  he  subsequently 
issued  an  ordinance  permitting  the  establishment 
of  new  coca  plantations.^^ 

While  the  government  of  the  viceroyalty  of 
Peru  sought  to  discourage  the  cultivation  of  wine 
and  coca,  it  was  active  in  promoting  the  cultiva- 
tion of  wheat;  but  the  fields  had  been  rendered 
unproductive  by  the  earthquake  of  1687,  and  re- 
mained sterile  for  nearly  forty  years.  After  1722 
the  production  of  wheat  was  revived,  and  with 
this  arose  the  policy  of  protecting  the  Peruvian 

20  Oliveira,  45. 

21  Oliveira,  47^9. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  405 

wheat  market  from  the  more  abundant  and 
cheaper  production  of  Chile.  The  first  step 
towards  this  end  was  to  reduce  the  tax  burden  on 
Peruvian  farmers  who  raised  wheat.  Then  it  was 
ordered  that  dealers  should  sell  Chilean  and 
Peruvian  wheat  in  equal  quantities,  and,  later, 
that  Chilean  wheat  should  be  sold  only  after  the 
Peruvian  wheat  had  been  exhausted.  In  order 
to  render  the  protection  still  more  effective,  still 
later  a  tax  of  a  dollar  per  fanega  was  imposed  on 
wheat  from  Chile.  Finally,  under  Viceroy  0  'Hig- 
gins,  action  was  taken  that  suggests  one  phase  of 
the  culture  system  of  Java.  The  farmers  of  cen- 
tral and  western  Peru  were  required  to  devote  a 
part  of  their  estates  to  the  cultivation  of  wheat, 
the  amount  in  individual  cases  to  vary  with  the 
size  of  the  estate  in  question. 

Yet  in  spite  of  these  protective  measures,  Peru 
had  not  great  expectations  regarding  her  agricul- 
ture. A  large  part  of  her  territory  was  composed 
of  mountains,  and  another  large  part  was  made 
up  of  deserts.  More  might  have  been  done  if  sys- 
tematic and  persistent  efforts  had  been  devoted  to 
irrigation.  But  with  profitable  mines  at  hand  and 
with  an  energetic  part  of  the  population  in  eager 
search  for  others,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that 
large  sums  would  be  invested  in  carrying  out 
elaborate  plans  for  irrigation,  when  the  profits  of 
such  undertakings  would  be  realized  only  after 
some  years.  There  was  wanting  both  an  adequate 
local    demand    for    the    products    and    also    the 


406  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

requisite  labor  to  stimulate  and  develop  agricul- 
tural production.  The  devastating  scourge  of 
smallpox,  the  violent  and  unaccustomed  efforts  of 
the  Indians  taken  to  work  in  the  mines  under  the 
oppressive  system  of  the  mita,  and  the  introduc- 
tion and  inunoderate  use  of  spirituous  liquors 
destroyed  a  large  part  of  the  original  inhabitants, 
and  the  immigration  was  not  sufficient  to  com- 
pensate for  the  loss.  A  savage  people  unused  to 
the  regular  tasks  which  civilized  man  imposes 
upon  himself  appears  to  be  unable  to  maintain 
itself  when  subjected  to  the  conditions  of  civilized 
life.  The  mere  fact,  therefore,  that  savages  dis- 
appear when  brought  into  contact  with  civilized 
society  does  not  necessarily  involve  a  condemna- 
tion of  the  superior  race.  Unnecessary  hardships 
imposed  upon  the  inferior  may  hasten  the  in- 
evitable decline.  For  imposing  such  hardships  a 
nation  may  be  justly  blamed,  and  on  this  point  the 
verdict  has  been  rendered  against  the  Spaniards. 
Agricultural  production  was  embarrassed  not 
only  by  lack  of  internal  consumption  but  also  by 
the  difficulties  of  transportation.  Sugar  shipped 
from  Havana  to  Spain  brought  the  o\vner  a  clear 
profit  of  fifty  cents  a  quintal.  The  white  sugar 
of  Martinique  sold  in  France  brought  a  profit  of 
sixty-two  and  a  half  cents  a  quintal.  On  account 
of  the  larger  freight  charges,  sugar  from  Peru 
sold  in  Europe  in  competition  with  that  from 
Havana  caused  the  owner  a  very  considerable 
loss.    In  the  same  way  cotton  from  Peru  could  not 


PERU  AND  CHILE  407 

successfully  compete  in  Holland  with  that  from 
other  parts  of  the  world.  In  view  of  these  facts, 
Peru  had  to  rely  on  gold  and  silver  as  exports. 

Other  causes  leading  to  the  decline  of  agri- 
culture were  the  diminution  of  the  number  of 
inhabitants,  the  lack  of  an  organized  and  effective 
system  of  cultivation  especially  needed  in  a  coun- 
try where  much  depended  on  irrigation,  and  the 
general  aversion  of  the  natives  to  work  on  being 
released  from  the  authority  of  their  traditional 
rulers.  Under  these  conditions  the  support  of  the 
population  became  increasingly  difficult. 

The  importation  of  the  African  negro,  as  an 
agricultural  laborer,  did  not  greatly  improve  the 
condition  of  affairs.  As  a  slave  laborer,  he  had 
all  the  economic  defects  of  his  class.  But  the 
defects  of  colonial  agriculture  were  not  all  due  to 
the  laborers.  The  Creole  proprietors  were  only 
interested  in  spending  their  income  in  ease.  They 
brought  to  their  undertakings  a  minimum  of  that 
practical  intelligence  which  should  manifest  itself 
in  new  appliances  and  improved  methods  of  culti- 
vation. With  respect  to  those  who  tilled  the  soil 
independently  on  a  small  scale,  the  circumstances 
were  hardly  more  favorable.  Under  the  commun- 
ism of  the  inca  period,  the  work  of  the  Indian  was 
prescribed  by  a  superior  authority.  When,  there- 
fore, this  authority  was  removed  the  Indian  was 
deprived  of  his  accustomed  direction,  and  he  did 
not  possess  sufficient  power  of  initiative  to  make 
his  efforts  extend  much  beyond  the  satisfaction  of 


408  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

his  immediate  wants.  The  early  gains  in  gold  and 
silver  and  the  hope  of  finding  rich  mines  made  the 
Spanish  and  Creole  population  impatient  of  the 
meagre  returns  from  cultivating  the  soil,  and  the 
presence  of  slave  laborers  brought  the  work  of  the 
agriculturist  into  disrepute.  Furthermore,  the 
arid  lands  of  the  rainless  coast  and  the  broken 
region  of  the  Sierra  offered  few  attractions  to 
agricultural  undertakings,  and  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment took  no  steps  toward  storing  the  waters 
of  the  mountain  streams,  or  systematically  utiliz- 
ing them  in  irrigation,  a  work  clearly  transcend- 
ing individual  effort. 


In  Chile  the  fitness  of  the  soil  and  climate  for 
agriculture  made  this  branch  of  production  pros- 
perous; its  chief  obstacle  to  expansion  was  the 
limited  demand  for  the  products.  The  early  dis- 
tribution of  the  lands  among  many  proprietors 
was  later  counteracted  by  the  accumulation  of 
many  estates  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits.  Some 
of  those  that  remained  iii  private  hands  passed 
from  one  generation  to  another  in  the  same 
family.  This  direct  descent  was  furthered  by  the 
law  upholding  primogeniture.  There  were,  how- 
ever, no  estates  to  which  this  procedure  had  been 
applied  prior  to  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. The  number  of  them  increased  in  the  early 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but  declined 
towards  the  end.    At  the  end  of  the  colonial  period 


PERU  AND  CHILE  409 

there  were  only  eighteen  important  estates  taking 
advantage  of  this  law.  There  were  others  subject 
to  certain  restriction  as  to  transmission,  although 
they  were  not  properly  under  the  law  of  primo- 
geniture. The  heads  of  some  of  the  families  hold- 
ing estates  under  this  law  bore  titles  of  nobility. 
The  system  of  inheritance  under  the  law  of 
primogeniture  contributed  to  maintain  the  pres- 
tige of  certain  families,  but  it  came  to  be  regarded 
as  a  cause  of  the  backwardness  of  Chilean  agri- 
culture. It  was,  therefore,  decreed  in  1789  that 
no  more  foundations  of  this  kind  should  be  made 
without  the  express  permission  of  the  king.  The 
titles  of  nobility  were  eagerly  sought,  particularly 
by  the  Creoles ;  they  were  conferred  by  the  crown 
on  the  presentation  of  a  nobiliary,  a  statement  of 
services  rendered,  and  the  payment  of  a  certain 
amount  of  money,  ordinarily  not  less  than  twenty 
thousand  dollars.  As  might  have  been  expected, 
many  persons  not  worthy  to  be  made  prominent 
in  their  communities  received  titles  of  nobility; 
and  this  abuse  led  the  king,  in  179.0,  to  undertake 
to  make  such  regulations  as  would  set  it  aside. 
Whether  owing  to  any  measures  formed  by  the 
king  or  to  the  increasing  influence  of  the  new 
society,  in  the  last  years  of  the  colonial  period  no 
new  titles  were  granted  to  Chile.  Persons  seeking 
some  mark  of  distinction  limited  their  aspirations 
to  the  possession  of  a  decoration  in  the  order  of 
Santiago,  of  Calatrava,  of  Alcantara,  of  Montera, 
or,  later,  to  the  order  of  Charles  III. 


410  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWEK 

XI 

While  life  in  the  cities  lacked  many  attractions, 
the  country  presented  much  less  favorable  condi- 
tions. On  the  estates  of  even  the  more  wealthy 
families,  there  were  few  conveniences  for  com- 
fortable living.  The  houses  of  the  proprietors 
were  in  some  cases  large,  but  they  contained  only 
a  few  rooms.  They  had  very  little  furniture,  and 
this  was  usually  in  the  last  stages  of  its  useful- 
ness. The  windows  were  without  glass.  A  few 
plates  and  other  dishes,  often  presenting  evidence 
of  rough  usage,  made  up  the  table  service,  and 
everywhere  there  was  a  lack  of  cleanliness.  The 
food  was  only  such  as  was  produced  on  the  estate. 
Fresh  meat  was  available  usually  only  at  the 
annual  period  of  slaughtering;  for  it  was  found 
to  be  too  expensive  to  kill  an  ox  or  other  animal 
in  order  to  provide  fresh  meat  for  a  family  for 
four  or  five  days.  In  the  last  years  of  the  century 
a  few  of  the  more  wealthy  owners  of  land,  par- 
ticularly those  in  the  neighborhood  of  Santiago 
and  Lima,  showed  a  disposition  to  increase  the 
conveniences  of  living  in  the  country.  The  pro- 
prietors who  lived  on  their  estates  for  only  a  few 
months  in  the  year  constituted  a  very  small  part 
of  the  country  population.  The  large  majority 
was  composed  of  tenants  who  were  nominally  free, 
but  whose  condition  was  not  greatly  different 
from  the  vassals  of  the  medieval  landlord.  Each 
of  them  received  a  small  farm,  or  piece  of  ground, 
for  cultivation.    In  return  for  the  use  of  this  he 


PERU  AND  CHILE  411 

was  required  to  work  for  the  owner.  * '  There  were 
without  doubt,"  as  Barros  Arana  says,  ''kind  and 
charitable  proprietors  who  treated  their  tenants 
humanely,  who  helped  them  in  their  times  of  need, 
and  who  were  interested  in  their  well-being;  but 
the  greater  number  maintained  with  respect  to 
their  dependents  a  regimen  that  was  very  little 
different  from  that  to  which  the  Indians  of  the 
encomienda  were  subjected."--  The  great  pro- 
prietors frequently  exercised  the  power  of  public 
officials,  either  as  agents  of  the  subdelegates  or 
as  merely  owners  of  the  soil,  and  their  orders  had 
practically  the  authority  of  law.  They  arrogated 
to  themselves  the  right  to  administer  justice  and 
even  to  impose  punishments.  Although  the  tenant 
might  legitimately  leave  the  estate  on  which  he 
lived,  few  of  them  did  it  voluntarily,  for  they 
either  acquired  a  sentimental  attachment  to  the 
places  where  they  had  spent  many  years,  or  they 
saw  nothing  to  be  gained  in  going  from  one  estate 
to  another.  Like  the  very  poor  everywhere,  who 
have  some  permanent  abiding-place,  they  hesi- 
tated to  move  lest  they  should  lose  the  very  small 
advantage  of  their  actual  state,  and  fall  into  the 
more  miserable  condition  of  the  floating  popula- 
tion that  wandered  over  the  country  seeking  work 
wherever  they  fancied  it  might  be  found.  The 
feudal  relations  that  thus  came  into  existence 
were  generally  characteristic  of  the  later  colonial 
society,  especially  of  that  portion  of  it  outside  of 
the  cities,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  continent. 

22  Hist,  de  Chile,  VII,  466. 


412  SPAIN'S   DECLINING    POWER 

XII 

Although  the  mines  were  one  of  Peru's  most 
important  sources  of  wealth,  this  industry  was 
subject  to  certain  inconveniences.  It  could  not  be 
carried  on  advantageously  without  the  mita,  but 
the  continuance  of  the  enforced  labor  of  the  mita 
caused  the  rapid  destruction  of  the  Indians.  It 
was,  moreover,  carried  on  without  adequate  scien- 
tific knowledge.  It  was  burdened  with  the  pay- 
ment of  a  fifth  of  the  product  to  the  king.  It 
suffered  from  lack  of  credit,  or  from  credit 
obtained  under  onerous  conditions.  Banks  for 
assisting  mining  enterprises  either  did  not  exist, 
or  when  created  were  opposed  and  discredited. 
Stock  companies  that  might  have  brought  together 
the  requisite  capital  were,  if  formed  at  all,  of  little 
importance.  The  bank  proposed  in  Arequipa  in 
1792,  with  a  capital  stock  of  fifty  thousand  dollars 
divided  into  five  hundred  shares,  found  that  the 
country  was  not  accustomed  to  such  projects  and 
failed  for  lack  of  support.  Progress  in  mining 
was,  moreover,  hindered  by  the  Spaniard's  lack 
of  initiative ;  also  by  the  desire  of  the  Creole,  who 
had  a  fortune,  to  consume  it  in  ease  instead  of 
increasing  it  by  means  of  work ;  or,  if  he  invested 
it,  by  his  search  for  such  investments  as  would 
cause  him  the  least  trouble.  The  ill-success  that 
attended  the  quicksilver  mine  of  Huancavelica  at 
certain  periods  was  due  to  maladministration  and 
the  neglect  or  hostility  of  the  government  favor- 
ing the  Spanish  mine  of  Almaden. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  413 

A  striking  feature  of  Spain 's  policy  respecting 
industry  in  the  dependencies  was  its  vacillation. 
The  views  of  one  king  were  sometimes  not  the 
views  of  his  successor,  and  the  Council  of  the 
Indies  did  not  always  render  the  same  interpreta- 
tion of  facts.  The  viceroys  and  captains-geenral, 
moreover,  sometimes  had  policies  of  their  own, 
inconsistent  with  the  orders  set  forth  in  royal 
decrees.  An  instance  of  the  misinterpretation  of 
facts  is  shown  by  the  action  of  the  government 
in  Spain,  when  prices  were  rising  there  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  importation  of  gold  and  silver 
from  America.  It  was  assumed  that  the  rise  was 
due  to  a  strong  demand  for  Spanish  wares  by  the 
colonists.  The  rise  in  the  price  of  textile  fabrics 
offered  a  specific  case.  To  provide  the  remedy 
desired  by  the  consumers  in  Spain,  the  govern- 
ment prohibited  the  inhabitants  of  the  depen- 
dencies from  purchasing  cloth  in  Spain.  This 
action  taken  by  the  Cortes  in  Valladolid,  in  1548, 
furnished  protection  for  the  manufacturer  of  the 
articles  in  question  in  America.  Whatever  advan- 
tage was  derived  by  the  American  manufacturer 
was  not  designed  by  the  Spanish  authorities,  but 
accrued  as  a  consequence  of  an  act  taken  in  ignor- 
ance of  the  influences  affecting  their  trade.  This 
hallucination  later  caused  the  issuance  of  ordi- 
nances to  further  manufactures  in  different  parts 
of  America. 

This  direct  reversal  of  the  original  policy 
was  not  consistently  maintained  subsequently. 
Philip  II  undertook  to  encourage  the  purchase  of 


414  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

American  wool  by  Spaniards,  "hoping  that  the 
textile  industry  of  the  colonies  would  be  destroyed 
by  being  deprived  of  one  of  its  most  essential 
materials.  "^^  The  great  distance  from  Europe 
and  the  difficulties  of  transportation  furnished, 
however,  sufficient  protection  to  keep  the  industry 
alive.  Yet  a  little  later  it  was  dealt  a  severe  blow 
by  an  ordinance  issued  by  Philip  II,  in  1595,  pro- 
viding that  *'in  no  province  or  part  of  the  Indies 
may  the  Indians  work  in  the  mills  for  making 
woollen,  silk,  or  cotton  cloth.  "^*  But  this  ordi- 
nance did  not  apply  to  those  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments belonging  to  communities  of  Indians 
and  carried  on  by  them  exclusively ;  it  also  did  not 
apply  to  those  belonging  to  the  king.  It  affected 
only  those  owned  by  private  persons  and  those  in 
which  Indians  and  Spaniards  were  engaged  to 
work  together.  The  motive  of  these  acts  of  pro- 
hibition was  revealed  in  the  instructions  to  Vice- 
roy Velasco,  when  it  was  required  '  *  that  he  should 
prohibit  the  manufacture  in  order  that  the  trade 
and  commerce  in  cloth  might  not  be  weakened," 
But  the  viceroy  was  unwilling  to  carry  out  this 
policy,  and  affirmed  "that  the  manufactories  are 
so  necessary  and  the  cloth  made  in  them  of  so 
great  importance  and  service  for  the  poor  people, 
and  that  which  comes  from  Spain  is  so  dear,  that 
the  Indians,  the  negroes,  and  even  the  Spaniards 
would  go  naked  if  the  manufactories  were  closed ; 

23  Oliveira,  92,  93. 

24  Solorzano,  Politiea  Indiana,  lib.  11,  cap.  12. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  415 

and  this  could  not  be  done  without  great  resent- 
ment from  many  private  persons  in  this  kingdom, 
who  have  them  and  who  are  supported  by  them."^^ 

In  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
textile  industry  in  Peru  suffered  an  apparently 
fatal  shock.  The  viceroy  and  the  audiencia  re- 
ceived orders  to  destroy  all  the  factories  and  mills 
which  had  not  been  established  by  the  express 
permission  of  the  king;  to  give  an  account  of  those 
demolished  and  of  those  that  remained.^*^ 

It  might  have  been  possible  to  avert  the  de- 
structive effect  of  royal  orders,  but  the  abundant 
importations  to  the  viceroyalty  by  the  French  in 
the  early  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century  was 
fatal  to  the  undertakings  of  American  manufac- 
turers. The  wares  thrown  on  the  American 
market  were  of  a  superior  quality  and  cheap ;  and 
American  production  could  not  resist  this  compe- 
tition. The  cessation  of  the  French  trade  later  in 
the  century,  after  the  collapse  of  colonial  produc- 
tion, left  the  colonists  in  want  of  many  articles 
important  for  their  well-being.  Imports  from 
Spain  were  interrupted  by  the  fear  of  hostile 
ships.  The  arrival  of  Spanish  ships  at  American 
ports  was  to  such  an  extent  prevented  by  the 
watchfulness  of  the  British  that  there  was  not 
only  a  great  scarcity  of  European  goods  at  very 
high  prices,  but  also  a  corresponding  fall  in  the 

25Mendiburu,  VIII,  288;  Oliveira,  95. 

26  The  royal  order  was  received  by  Viceroy  Ladron  de  Guevara 
on  the  4th  of  November,  1711 ;  for  the  terms,  see  Mendiburu,  IV, 
372. 


416  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

price  of  American  products.  In  order  to  remedy 
this  evil,  officials  in  America  exercised  functions 
that  legally  belonged  to  the  king  and  the  Council 
of  the  Indies.  They  assumed  towards  foreign 
traders  essentially  the  same  attitude  that  the 
Peruvian  and  Chilean  officials  held  towards  the 
French  in  the  first  and  second  decades  of  the  cen- 
tury. In  the  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century 
they  were  even  more  open  and  specific  in  their 
action.  In  November,  1808,  Juan  de  Casas,  the 
president  of  Venezuela,  declared  commerce  with 
the  British  colonies  and  neutral  nations  to  be  law- 
ful, and  reduced  by  one-fifth  the  duties  that  had 
been  established.-^  This  action  was  recognized  as 
temporar}^,  but  it  indicates  to  what  extent  the 
local  authorities  in  the  colonies  were  usurping  the 
legitimate  powers  of  the  government  in  Spain. 
The  merchants  of  Cadiz  were  indignant;  they 
preferred,  quoting  Amunategui,  'Ho  see  the  col- 
onists given  over  to  nakedness  and  hunger  rather 
than  to  run  the  most  remote  risk  of  losing  their 
monopoly."-^ 

The  independent  action  of  the  authorities  in 
America,  when  not  reversed  by  the  king  or  the 
Council  of  the  Indies,  encouraged  further  action 
of  a  similar  character;  but  sometimes  such  action 
was  annulled,  and  thereby  a  sentiment  of  hostility 
was  provoked.     From  this  it  would  appear  that 

27  Amunategui,  Lo  cronica  de  1810,  Santiago  de  Chile,  1876, 
I,  77. 

2s  La  cronica  de  1810,  1,  72. 


PERU  AND  CHILE  417 

after  the  colonists  had  begun  to  think  of  acting 
on  their  own  initiative,  the  results  would  be  essen- 
tially the  same,  whatever  course  might  be  pursued 
by  the  government  in  Spain.  The  viceroy's  or 
captain-general's  superior  knowledge  of  the  local 
circumstances  often  enabled  him  to  see  that  a 
strict  execution  of  the  king's  orders  would  cause 
an  unjust  hardship,  and,  in  his  growing  indepen- 
dence, he  not  infrequently  assumed  the  responsi- 
bility of  adapting  the  execution  of  the  orders  to 
the  known  circumstances  of  the  persons  subject 
to  them. 

Part  of  the  weakness  of  Spain's  hold  on  the^" 
dependencies  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  connection 
was  a  personal  union.  Whatever  common  senti- 
ments the  colonies  and  the  parent  nation  may 
have  entertained  in  the  beginning  were  enfeebled 
as  the  American  possessions  became  conscious 
of  their  individuality  and  distinct  interests.  The 
growth  of  this  consciousness  was  inevitably 
attended  by  a  decline  of  loyalty  to  the  government 
in  Spain;  it  produced  an  impulse  to  rejecting 
Spain's  domination. 

XIII 

Perhaps  the  most  effective  hindrance  to  pro- 
duction and  to  the  advance  of  the  colonies  in 
material  prosperity  was  the  draft  made  on  their 
resources  by  Spain.  The  colonies  were  conceived 
as  existing  for  the  advantage  of  the  mother  coun- 


/ 


418  SPAIN'S   DECLINING   POWER 

try,  and  whether  their  resources  were  insignificant 
or  abundant  little  remained,  after  the  exorbitant 
demands  of  the  crown  had  been  satisfied,  to 
promote  the  general  welfare  of  the  colonies. 
There  was  in  each  of  the  principal  cities  an  office, 
or  agency,  of  the  royal  treasury.  This  office 
received  the  funds  designed  to  be  transported  to 
Europe  to  the  credit  of  the  government  in  Spain, 
and  to  meet  in  the  colonies  such  expenses  as  were 
borne  by  the  royal  government.  These  funds 
were  derived  from  many  sources,  among  which 
the  tax  known  as  the  alcabala  was  one  of  the  more 
productive.  This  tax  had  been  long  known  in 
Spain,  and  was  originally  imposed  to  provide 
means  for  carrying  on  the  war  against  the  Moors. 
In  the  course  of  time  its  imposition  and  collection 
came  to  be  regarded  almost  as  a  prerogative  of 
the  crown;  and  when  the  question  arose  as  to  the 
propriety  of  introducing  it  into  America,  it  was 
assumed  that  without  any  new  grant  it  might  be 
extended  by  the  king  to  all  possessions  annexed 
to  the  Spanish  empire.  It  was  thus  established  in 
Mexico  in  1574,  and  in  Peru  in  1591.  It  was  a  per- 
centage tax  on  the  price  of  every  article  sold,  and 
was  due  at  every  sale  of  the  article  in  question, 
whether  this  article  was  a  bundle  of  faggots  or  a 
great  estate.  The  rate  fixed  for  the  colonies  was 
two  per  cent,  and  this  rate  was  maintained  for  a 
number  of  years,  but  about  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  it  was  raised  to  five  per  cent. 
In  the  case  of  a  retail  dealer  it  would  have  been 


PERU  AND  CHILE  419 

evidently  inconvenient  to  collect  the  tax  on  the 
occasion  of  each  sale.  An  account  of  such  a 
trader's  stock  was,  therefore,  taken  annually,  and 
the  annual  sales  estimated.  The  tax  was  then 
collected  on  the  estimated  sales  for  the  year.  On 
land  or  other  property  that  was  seldom  sold  this 
tax  was  not  burdensome,  but  it  tended  to  absorb 
the  value  of  wares  that  passed  from  hand  to  hand 
many  times  during  the  year.  Under  this  system, 
if  trade  was  dull  and  few  exchanges  were  made, 
the  annual  profits  were  naturally  small;  if  trade 
was  brisk,  the  profits  were  absorbed  by  the  royal 
treasury.  The  universal  effect  was  to  discourage 
exchanges. 

The  import  and  export  duties  varied  with  the 
articles  involved  and  with  the  ports  where  they 
were  landed,  the  larger  ports  having  a  higher  rate 
than  the  smaller.  The  impost  known  as  the 
armada  was  a  tax  collected  for  the  purpose  of 
maintaining  government  vessels  designed  to  pro- 
tect the  coast  from  pirates.  In  the  course  of  time 
it  was  found  that  smaller  vessels  than  those  at 
first  employed  were  better  adapted  to  this  pur- 
pose, and  an  additional  impost  was  established  for 
maintaining  them.  This  tax  was  called  armadilla. 
Later  the  pirates  ceased  to  infest  the  coast,  but 
the  tax  to  provide  means  for  warding  them  off 
continued  to  be  collected. 

A  small  special  import  and  export  tax  was 
levied  to  pay  the  salaries  and  other  expenses  con- 
nected with  the  consulate.     It  amounted  to  an 


420  SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 

average  duty  of  one  per  cent  on  all  articles  im- 
ported from  Spain  and  from  different  parts  of 
Spanish  America,  or  shipped  to  those  regions. 
The  import  and  export  taxes  levied  for  this  pur- 
pose on  such  trade  as  was  permitted  with  foreign 
countries  were  much  higher,  averaging  about 
three  per  cent.  There  were  some  exceptions  to 
these  rates :  horses  and  mules  paid  a  specific  duty 
of  one  dollar  a  head. 

In  the  larger  cities  there  was  a  license  for  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  liquors.  The  amount  of  this 
license  for  saloons,  or  shops,  for  this  traffic,  was 
fixed  in  proportion  to  estimated  sales,  but  this 
payment  did  not  release  the  dealers  from  the 
alcabala;  this  they  were  obliged  to  pay,  in  addi- 
tion, as  retail  traders. 

The  practice  of  selling  titles  had  been  resorted 
to  in  Spain  as  a  means  of  increasing  the  royal 
revenues,  and  this  was  extended  to  the  colonies. 
A  resident  of  Spanish  America  who  mshed  the 
distinction  of  a  title  of  nobility  paid  the  king  a 
prescribed  sum;  or  he  might  even  enter  into  an 
agreement  to  pay  annually  interest  on  the  sum 
prescribed.  These  payments  and  the  interest  on 
the  sums  promised  constituted  a  source  of  revenue 
for  the  king.  Back  of  this  practice  lay,  as  already 
indicated,  the  desire  and  purpose  of  the  king  to 
maintain  in  America  social  conditions  similar  to 
those  of  Spain. 

There  was  a  long  list  of  other  sources  from 
which  revenues  flowed  more  or  less  abundantly 


PERU  AND  CHILE  421 

into  the  royal  treasury.    The  following  were  the 
most  important: 

1.  The  media  anata  was  half  of  the  salary,  or 
yearly  product,  of  places  or  offices  under  the  gov- 
ernment to  which  appointments  were  made.  It 
was  paid  into  the  treasury  for  the  first  year.  In 
case  of  an  increase  of  salary  by  promotion  or 
otherwise,  the  half  of  the  increase  was  paid  for 
the  first  year  after  it  was  granted. 

2.  The  royal  ninths  comprised  the  parts  of  the 
tithes  not  allotted  to  ecclesiastical  or  other  insti- 
tutions. The  tithes  established  in  America  by  an 
edict  of  Charles  V,  October  5,  1501,  were  at  first 
applied  solely  to  the  support  of  the  church.  Forty 
years  later,  it  was  provided  that  they  should  be 
divided  into  four  parts.  One  part,  or  one-quarter 
of  the  whole  amount,  was  given  to  the  bishop  of 
the  diocese,  and  one  part  to  the  chapter.  Of  the 
remaining  half  of  the  whole  amount  collected,  two- 
ninths  (one-ninth  of  the  whole)  went  to  the  crown; 
three-ninths  were  set  apart  for  the  foundation  of 
churches  and  hospitals;  and  the  remainder,  four- 
ninths,  was  devoted  to  the  support  of  curates  or 
other  officiating  ecclesiastics.  Later  this  last 
amount  was  increased  to  seven-ninths  of  the  half 
of  the  whole  amount,  absorbing  the  three-ninths 
previously  devoted  to  founding  churches  and  hos- 
pitals. 

3.  The  tribute  paid  by  the  civilized  Indians 
constituted  an  important  contribution  to  the  royal 
revenue.     This  was  the  annual  personal  tax  im- 


422  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

posed  upon  every  male  Indian  between  the  ages 
of  eighteen  and  fifty,  over  whom  the  Spaniards 
had  acquired  jurisdiction.  The  amount  of  the 
tribute  varied  both  with  respect  to  persons  and 
with  respect  to  provinces.  It  was  collected  by  the 
corregidores,  or  governors  of  districts,  who  were 
allowed  six  per  cent  of  the  sums  collected,  in 
accordance  with  the  assessment  placed  in  their 
hands.  In  the  colonial  system  established  by 
Spain,  every  Indian  was  regarded  as  a  vassal 
either  immediately  subject  to  the  king  or  depen- 
dent on  an  encomendero.  During  the  years  in 
which  the  Indians  were  being  brought  into  sub- 
jection to  Spanish  authority,  the  king  made 
numerous  grants  of  lands,  and  large  numbers  of 
Indians  were  assigned  to  the  various  holders  of 
these  lands.  Making  these  grants  w^as  a  part  of 
the  process  of  conquest ;  for  a  Spaniard  on  whom 
had  been  bestowed  an  extensive  territory,  together 
with  aiiarge  number  of  Indians,  would  necessarily 
be  disposed  to  dominate  his  possessions  and  main- 
tain peace  among  his  dependents.  In  the  course 
of  time  these  grants  that  were  made  for  only  one 
or  two  lives,  reverted  to  the  crown,  and  the  tribute 
that  had  been  paid  previously  to  the  encomendero 
was,  after  this  reversion,  paid  into  the  king's 
treasury.  The  effect  of  this  change  was  to  in- 
crease the  king's  revenue,  and  to  make  a  larger 
part  of  the  Indian  population  dependent  imme- 
diately on  him.  This  tax  gradually  came  to  be 
regarded  with  dissatisfaction ;  for  those  who  paid 


PERU  AND  CHILE  423 

it  looked  upon  it  as  a  sign  of  personal  subordina- 
tion or  bondage. 

4.  The  royal  treasury  received  also  a  large 
sum  from  the  sale  of  offices,  particularly  municipal 
offices.  Appointments  to  these  offices  were  made 
frequently  after  a  considerable  pajTiient  to  the 
crown  by  the  candidate. 

5.  The  income  derived  from  the  sale  of 
stamped  paper  increased  with  the  increase  of  the 
population  and  the  growth  of  official  business. 

6.  The  royal  treasury  received,  moreover,  a 
certain  increment  from  lost  property  and  strays, 
which,  having  been  found  and  held  unclaimed  for 
a  year,  belonged  to  the  king. 

7.  The  fifth  part  of  the  product  of  the  mines 
was  the  most  noteworthy  element  of  the  royal 
income.  A  large  part  of  the  income  from  the 
mines  was  the  net  product  of  the  quicksilver  mine 
of  Huancavelica  owned  by  the  government.  Dur- 
ing the  two  hundred  and  nineteen  years  f r((fml570, 
when  the  mine  was  purchased  by  the  crown,  to 
1789,  the  mine  of  Huancavelica  produced  1,040,469 
quintals  of  mercury,  an  average  annual  product 
of  4751  quintals.  The  price  of  the  metal  extracted 
was  sixty  dollars  per  quintal  in  1786  and  seventy- 
three  dollars  in  1791.  At  the  average  price  of  the 
whole  period  in  question,  the  value  of  the  product 
was  67,629,396  dollars.  After  deducting  the  ex- 
penses of  the  mine  there  remained  a  profit  for  the 
crown  of  about  65,000,000  dollars. 

It  is  impossible  to  make  an  accurate  statement 


424  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

of  the  output  of  the  other  mines  of  South  America, 
from  which  the  king  drew  the  allotted  twenty  per 
cent.  It  is  estimated  that  the  mines  of  Potosi 
alone,  in  their  first  ninety  years,  produced  395,- 
619,000  dollars ;  and  that  between  1545  and  1800 
the  king's  fifth  from  the  product  of  these  mines 
amounted  to  163,000,000  dollars.  On  the  basis  of 
this  estimate  the  total  output  of  the  mines  of 
Potosi  for  these  years  would  appear  to  have  been 
815,000,000  dollars.  It  has  been  estimated,  more- 
over, that  Spain  received  from  America,  during 
two  hundred  and  forty-eight  years  ending  in  1740, 
the  sum  of  9,000,000,000  dollars.  These  figures 
are,  however,  only  estimates,  as  the  condition  of 
the  accounts  of  the  mines  has  always  made  it  im- 
possible to  derive  from  them  an  accurate  and 
trustworthy  statement. 

8.  The  proceeds  of  the  salt  tax  belonged  to  the 
crown,  but  it  was  one  of  the  less  productive 
sources  of  income. 

9.  The  king  also  received  the  fees  paid  by 
ships  on  entering  and  clearing  at  the  ports. 

10.  The  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  the  bull  of 
Crusada,  although  this  was  apparently  an  insti- 
tution of  the  church,  were  gathered  into  the  royal 
treasury.  The  Crusada  mentioned  here  as  a 
source  of  revenue  was  a  bull  published  every  two 
years,  carrying  absolution  from  past  offences  and 
containing  certain  privileges  with  respect  to  the 
future.  The  jjrices  paid  for  the  bull  ranged  from 
a  few  cents  to  several  dollars. 

11.  The  crown  received  an  important  addition 


PERU  AND  CHILE  425 

to  its  revenues  from  various  kinds  of  concessions 
and  monopolies,  but  these  created  great  dissatis- 
faction, and,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out, 
provoked  revolts  that  endangered  the  stability  of 
the  royal  government.  There  was  also  a  tax  on 
titles  of  nobility.  This  was,  however,  of  very  little 
importance  except  in  Lima  and  the  city  of  Mexico. 
In  Lima  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury there  were  sixty-three  persons  who  were 
expected  to  pay  this  tax. 

The  viceroys  and  captains-general,  recogniz- 
ing their  loyalty  and  obligations  to  the  crown, 
sometimes  sent  special  contributions  to  the  king, 
from  any  available  funds,  thus  depriving  the 
dependencies  of  means  that  might  have  been  used 
for  public  improvements,  or  to  facilitate  social 
progress. 

In  the  last  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  and 
in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth,  the  drift  of 
affairs  clearly  indicated  that  the  great  colonial 
enterprise  had  failed.  The  viceroy  found  evi- 
dence of  it  in  the  decreasing  population,  and  y 
proposed  remedies  that  would  have  had  some 
chance  of  success  if  they  had  been  applied  two 
hundred  years  earlier:  To  guard  with  care  the 
treatment  of  the  Indians  by  the  priests  and  the 
corregidores ;  to  prohibit  the  sale  of  alcoholic 
beverages;  to  transfer  to  the  decadent  provinces 
a  sufficient  number  of  families  from  the  more 
densely  populated  provinces;  to  prevent  the  cre- 
ation of  too  great  a  number  of  convents  and 
monasteries;  to  rehabilitate  the  arts  and  trades; 


426  SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 

and  to  oppose  the  increase  of  luxury.^®  But  the 
only  remedy  that  involved  a  promise  of  success, 
the  complete  overthrow  of  Spain's  traditional 
policy,  did  not  enter  the  mind  of  the  king.  There 
were,  moreover,  almost  insurmountable  difficulties 
that  opposed  the  application  of  the  only  remedy 
destined  to  work  a  cure.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
dependencies  had  been  subject  to  an  autocratic 
rule  from  the  beginning.  The  viceroys,  the 
captains-general,  the  judges,  the  corregidores,  and 
all  the  higher  ecclesiastical  functionaries  were  the 
appointees  of  an  absolute  authority  in  the  other 
half  of  the  world.  Neither  the  colonists  nor  their 
ancestors  had  had  an  opportunity  to  learn  the 
difficult  business  of  self-government.  Unlike  the 
British  colonists  of  North  America,  they  lacked 
both  the  political  instinct  and  experience  in  organ- 
ization and  administration ;  and  during  these  last 
decades  of  the  century  their  reaction  under  gov- 
ernmental abuses  hardly  went  beyond  protests. 
Their  plans  for  constructive  political  efforts  were 
visionary  or  impractical.  In  this  state  of  affairs 
ends  the  colonial  enterprise.  The  growth  of  a 
new  spirit,  the  development  of  a  will  to  be  free, 
the  rise  in  the  creole-mestizo  society  of  the  power 
and  the  determination  to  organize  itself  for  eman- 
cipation, and  the  long  struggle  to  overthrow  the 
ancient  regime  fill  a  new  period  in  the  history  of 
Spanish  South  America. 

29  Memorial  de  los  vireyes,  III,  133. 
THE  END 


INDEX 


Abascal  sends  aid  to  Buenos 
Aires,  350,  373. 

Abipones,  account   of,  88. 

Acevedo  advocates  viceroyalty 
of  Buenos  Aires,  158;  real 
head  of  Chilean  government, 
237. 

Acosta,  Jose  (the  historian), 
provincial,  128. 

Acosta,  Friar,  opposes  Ver- 
tiz's  theatre,  250. 

Admiralty's  view,  342;  orders 
as  to  Cape,  343 ;  on  Pop- 
ham  's  irregularity,  359. 

Agriculture,  in  Chile,  xv,  408; 
in  Argentina,  xvii;  hind- 
rances to,  in  Peru,  406-408. 

Alcabala,  increased,  177;  not 
imposed  on  Indians,  178, 
418. 

Alcohol,  monopoly  of,  99;  de- 
stroyed in  Quito,  100. 

Alcoholic  liquors,  consumed  by 
Indians,  37. 

Alcedo,  president,  53. 

Aleedo  's  Diccionario,  54. 

Aldunate  in  Buenos  Aires,  15. 

Alexander  VI,  74. 

Aliaga,  corregidor,  183,  184. 

Altamirano,  Jesuit,  80. 

Alvarez,  J.  F.,  state  secretary 
of  Comun,  212. 

Alzaga  at  head  of  Buenos 
Aires,  362;  organizes  de- 
fense, 363. 

Amantes  del  Pais,  379. 

Amar  y  Borbon,  viceroy,  291. 

Amaru,  Tupac,   180. 

Amat  y  Junient,  governor  and 
viceroy,  97;  his  military 
regime,  98,  177;  in  Chile, 
228. 

Amnesty  to  rioters  in  Quito, 
101. 


Amunategui  on  Rojas,  234. 

Ana  de  Ricuarte,  held  mint 
pension,  58. 

Andean  route,  42;  passes 
guarded,  136. 

Andes,  slopes  of,  xiv. 

Andonaegui,  Governor  of  Uru- 
guay, 34;  to  attack  reduc- 
tions, 81 ;  moves  on  mis- 
sions, 1754,  82;  to  priests, 
91;  returns  to  Spain,  93. 

Angostura,  63. 

Angulo  y  Olarto,  alcalde,  ad- 
dresses insurgents,  207. 

Anson,  14;  his  plan,  312,  n. 

Antequera,  in  Paraguay,  14; 
executed  in  Lima,  20;  his 
rebellion,  157. 

Aponte,  Governor  of  Chile, 
35;  Chile  under,  38;  death, 
1733,  40. 

Aporger,  Padre,  remained  in 
Misiones,  126. 

Aranda,  Count  of,  receives  de- 
cree expelling  Jesuits,  106; 
instructions,  106;  his  cir- 
cular letter,  107,  129;  ob- 
jects to  leaving  Jesuits  in 
Quito,  142;  instructions, 
151. 

Araucanians,  resistance  by, 
xvi ;  drafted  into  service, 
35;  would  expel  Spaniards, 
36,  46;  chiefs  in  Santiago, 
385;  pacified,  396;  sympa- 
thized with  royalists,  but 
inspired  patriots,  397. 

Archbishop  of  Bogota  and  the 
Comun,  217;  his  hypocrisy, 
218 ;  pastoral  visit  to  rebels, 
220;  becomes  viceroy,  225, 
266. 

Architects  among  Jesuits,  133. 


428 


SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 


Areche,  177;  increased  taxes, 
178;  charges  against  Gui- 
rior,  179;  his  forces  at 
Cuzco,  186;  with  Del  Valle 
at  Cuzco,  186,  191 ;  his  re- 
ply to  Tupac,  192 ;  attitude, 
193;    sentences   Tupac,   195. 

Arequipa,  179,  246;  trade 
with  Arica,  304. 

Arevalo,  commander  at  Isth- 
mus, 270-272. 

Argentina,  x. 

Arica  becomes  a  port,  304. 

Armada,  tax,  419. 

Armadilla,  419. 

' '  Armiena, ' '  frigate,  32. 

Arms  and  munitions  distrib- 
uted by  Amat,  98. 

Armistice  of  1737,  32,  73. 

Army,  Superintendent  of,  168. 

Arregui,  Bishop,  at  Asuncion, 
21;  as  mediator,  22;  elected 
Governor,  23 ;  his  false  posi- 
tion, 23 ;  retires  to  Buenos 
Aires,  24. 

Articles  furnished  by  corregi- 
dor,  175. 

Aruba,  Miranda  at,  333,  336. 

Asesor  general,   156. 

Asuncion,  stagnant,  xvii; 
without  authority,  23 ;  Jes- 
uits removed  from,  114,  243. 

Astete,  Pablo,  commands  at 
Cuzco,  191. 

Atrato  river,  xii;  route  to  Pa- 
cific, 272. 

Auchmuty,  General,   358. 

Audiencia,  Quito  and  Pana- 
ma, 50.  55 ;  of  Buenos  Aires, 
243;  in  Venezuela,  1786, 
313. 

Auditor's  office,  172. 

Aviles,  373;  O'Higgins'  suc- 
cessor in  Chile,  392. 

Aymaras,   7. 

Azua,  agent  of  cabildo  on 
university,  47. 

Azua,  Archbishop,  on  priests ' 
traffic  in  alcohol,  59. 

Azores,  Portuguese  from,  163. 

* '  Bacchus  "  and  "  Bee  "  j  oin 

Miranda,  333. 
Baird,  General,  342;  to  Beres- 

ford,  346. 


Balmaseda,  agent  to  expel 
Jesuits  from  Chile,  136,  137. 

Bank  at  Arequipa,  412. 

Barcelona,  province  of,  61,  68. 

Barquisimeto,  xi,  68. 

Barreiro,  president  of  comu- 
noros,  19. 

Barreda,  Jose,  provincial  of 
Paraguay,  80. 

Barreda  y  Vera,  succeeds 
Aponte,  40. 

Barrera,  Captain,  211,  212. 

Barros  Arana,  on  Jesuit  am- 
bitions,  133. 

Bastides,  Miguel,  campaign 
east  of  Titicaea,  197. 

Battle,  reduction  Indians  de- 
feated, 89  ;  of  Cuzco,  191 ; 
at  Ciiecacupe,  194;  of 
Puente  Eeal,  211. 

Barua,  in  Paraguay,  15,  17, 
18. 

Bauza  on  war  against  mis- 
sions, 94. 

Belgrano  on  loss  of  Buenos 
Aires,   349,   n. 

Benavides,  Governor  of  Chile, 
237 ;  intendant  of  Santiago, 
246. 

Berbeo,  chief  of  Comun,  210; 
commanding  general,  212 : 
commisioners '  note  to,  213; 
his  vacilation,  215;  pro- 
poses peace  conference,  216; 
corregidor   of   Socorro,   219. 

Beresford,  General,  to  Rio  de 
la  Plata,  342;  salary,  346; 
victorious   at   Perdriel,   353. 

Berlanga,  Juan  de,  and  arrest 
of  Jesuits,  109. 

Berney,  his  conspiracy,  232; 
forms  constitution,  235 ; 
sentenced,  238. 

Berrio,   Antonio   de,   62. 

Bishops,  authority  of,  244. 

Bishoprics  and  intendencies, 
242. 

Blanco  and  royal  revenues, 
230 ;  transferred  to  Potosi, 
231. 

Blount,  intrigues  of,  324. 

Bogota,  position  of,  xiv,  4; 
Comun  advance  upon,  213; 
population  of,  260,  261 ;  be- 
comes fashionable,  275. 


INDEX 


429 


Bolivia,  x. 

Books,  importation  prohibited, 
8 ;  on  politics  in  Venezuela, 
319,-  hunted  by  Viceroy 
Croix,  377. 

Borja,  authorized  Jesuits  in 
Peru,  127. 

Botanical  Expedition,  ap- 
proved by  the  King,  269; 
change  in  purpose,  272-274; 
transferred  to  Bogota,  275 ; 
in  Peru,  277-281. 

Bougainville  on  Nanguiru,  88, 
n. 

Bourne,  Sturges,  to  Pitt,  343. 

Boundary  controversy,  26 ; 
eommisioners,  79 ;  commis- 
sioners for  Portugal,  80 ; 
question,  93. 

Bridge  over  the  Kimac,  293. 

Brierly  on  Cumani,  334. 

British  policv  communicated 
to   King,  328. 

British  designs  on  South 
America,  340. 

British  vessels  at  Buenos 
Aires,  347,  348. 

British  proclamation  as  to 
trade  at  Buenos  Aires,  350- 
352. 

British  in  Montevideo,  361 , 
reinforcements  at  Buenos 
Aires,  358 ;  advance  on 
Buenos  Aires,  362;  de- 
mands, 363. 

Brunete,  Joseph,  278;  died  in 
Pasco,  1787,  '2^80. 

Bucareli,  Governor  of  Rio  de 
la  Plata,  104;  receives  order 
to  be  sent  to  Chile  'and  Peru, 
108;  his  edict  at  Buenos 
Aires,  109;  on  Cordova  Jes- 
uits, 112;  on  latest  Jesuit 
arrivals,  114;  goes  to  Mis- 
iones,  125 ;  enters  Yapeyu, 
126;  sends  papers  to  Chile, 
135. 

Buenos  Aires,  lost  and  rewon, 
Chap.  XIII ;  British  at, 
X,  xvii ;  lack  of  privileges, 
6;  new  shipping  orders,  42; 
state  of.  155,  249;  and 
trade,  167;  shipping  point 
for  interior,  168;  audiencia 
of,   243,   244;    provinces   of, 


244 ;  intendency  of,  245 ;  re- 
lation to  other  cities,  251 ; 
agriculture  and  commerce, 
252  ;  trade  with  Spain,  304 ; 
later  trade,  339 ;  increased 
wealth,  340 ;  population, 
340 ;  project  against,  dis- 
cussed, 345;  offers  resist- 
ance, 347 ;  prepares  for  de- 
fense, 353 ;  commanders  of 
battalions,  362;  victorv, 
370. 
Bull  fights  at  Lima,  303. 

Caballero,  his  toleration,  266 ; 
Belacion  de  mando,  268, 
273. 

Cadiz,  in  Spain's  commerce, 
167;   merchants  of,  416. 

Caesares,  Orejuela's  expedi- 
tion to,  235. 

Cafes  in  Lima,   303,   n. 

Callao,  destroyed,  1746,  13; 
fortress  of,  98;  under  vice- 
roy, 157. 

Canary  Islands,  167. 

Cannon  cast  at  Lima,  98. 

Cape  captured,  342. 

Capuchin  missions,  64. 

Cartagena,  xii;  defended  by 
Eslaba,  57;  defenses  of, 
261. 

Carabobo,  68. 

Carvajal,    Duke,    297. 

Casa  de  Contratacion,  42. 

Casas,  Juan  de,  on  British 
commerce,  416. 

Casanare,  64. 

Caracas,  xi,  4,  68. 

Cauca  Valley,  xii. 

Cauquenes,  44. 

Castel-Fuerte,  13,  14;  ap- 
points Salamanca  governor, 
40. 

Ceballos,  his  fleet  and  army, 
162;  lands  at  Montevideo, 
162;  received  at  San  Borja, 
93;  his  commission,  159; 
his  orders,  159;  his  power, 
161;  promoted,  163;  suc- 
ceeded by  Vertiz,  168 ;  and 
reform,  172;  repatriation 
of  Portuguese,  170-172. 

Celebrations,  55. 

Cession  of  reductions,  76, 


430 


SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 


Chaeo,  Jesuits  of,  118. 

Charcas,  aufliencia  of,  157, 
244;  advises  the  King,  158, 
170. 

Charles   II,   Spain   under,   27. 

Charles  III,  xx;  King  of 
Naples,  57;  accession,  95, 
103;  appoints  Bucarcli,  104; 
reply  to  Clement  XIII,  107; 
his  reforms,  153;  economic 
legislation,  166,  172,  229; 
death,  391. 

Charles  IV,  accession,  391 ;  re- 
volt in  Venezuela,  316. 

Charlevoix,  quoted,  14,  15. 

Checacupe,  battle  of,  194. 

Chibchas,  xii,   7. 

Chiloe,  province  of,  247. 

Chinchona  monopoly,  265. 

Chiquitos,  170. 

Cliile,  x;  middle  part  of,  xv; 
mining  in,  xv;  southern, 
xvi;  monotony  of  life  in, 
34;  trade  with  Peru,  42; 
rural  life  in,  305,  384.  See 
Agriculture,  Aponte,  etc. 

Chome,  Padre,  died  going  into 
exile,  122. 

Chucuito,  170. 

Chuquisaca,  xiv,  251. 

Church,  attitude  towards  the 
Indians,  2;  and  riot  in 
Quito,  180;  extent  of  prop- 
erty, 301. 

Cities,  of  Chile,  305;  life  in, 
410. 

Clement  XIII,  on  expulsion  of 
Jesuits,   107. 

Clergy,  their  irregular  living, 
14;   against  Tupac,  188. 

Coast,  sandy,  xiv. 

Cochrane,  furnishes  ships  to 
Miranda,  334. 

Cock-fights.  303. 

Code  of  1778,  167,  172,  173, 
398. 

Coining  in  Chile,  43. 

Colegio  del  Bosario,  Mutis  at, 
263. 

Colombia,  x,  xi. 

* '  Columbia ' '  at  Juan  Fernan- 
dez, 389. 

Colonia,  contraband  trade, 
xvi;  held  by  Portuguese,  26, 
27;     taken     by     Eoss,     28; 


ceded  to  Portugal,  28; 
under  Vasconcellos,  31;  be- 
sieged by  Salcedo,  32,  33; 
fort  strengthened,  72  ;  ceded 
by  Portugal,  74;  Ceballos 
advances  on,  162;  prisoners 
sent  to  Mendoza,  163;  ceded 
to  Spain,  1777,  164;  re- 
ceives English  goods,  166; 
Portuguese  inhabitants,  171. 

Colonial  history,  xviii. 

Colonial  system,  failure  of, 
171. 

Colonists  of  Buenos  Aires 
after  1778,   167. 

Commercial  code,  166-173. 

Comuneros,  Chap.  VII;  of 
Paraguay,  15-43;  of  New 
Granada,  209-219. 

Comun,    221-224. 

Communism   of   missions,   147, 

Concepcion,  Bishop  of,  36 ; 
earthquake,  39;  in tendency 
of,  246,  305;  smallpox  in, 
308. 

Condorcanqui,  Tupac's  name, 
180. 

Conspiracies,  secret,  232,  241. 

Conspiracy  of  Gramuset  and 
Berney,'  Chap.  VIII. 

Consulado  for  Santiago,  43; 
Caracas,  314;  on  unemploy- 
ment, 321;  tax  for,  419. 

Contensiosa,   court   of,   247. 

Contraband  trade,  27,  31,  41, 
165,    339. 

Copiapo,  44. 

Cordova,  4;  Gorro  retained  at, 
27;  capital,  34,  251. 

Coro,  xi,  68. 

Corral,  Juan  de,  built  Lima 
bridge,  294. 

Corregidores,  as  sole  traders, 
14;  purpose  of  office,  174; 
and  Indians,  241 ;  sup- 
pressed, 243,  373. 

Correo  m-ayor,  resumed  by 
croAvn,   297. 

Corporations  in  South  Amer- 
ica, 399. 

Corsica,  Jesuits  in,  117. 

Corvallo  on  Santiago,  306. 

Council  of  the  Indies,  xx,  15, 
47,  156. 

Country,  life  in,  410. 


INDEX 


431 


Court  of  junta  superior  de 
gobierno,  248. 

Crawford  at  Buenos  Aires, 
362. 

Credit,  absence,  8,  400. 

Creoles,  ix,  4 ;  excluded  from 
office,  4,  9;  and  mestizo  op- 
position, 5-11 ;  party  at 
Quito,  102;  acquire  Jesuit 
property,  103 ;  intellectual 
awakening,  275,  301,  315, 
318;  attachment  to  New 
World,  319. 

Crime,  increase  of,  53. 

Croix,    viceroy,    373. 

Crusada,   proceeds   from,   424. 

Cumana,  xi,  61,  68,  313,  334. 

Cundinamarea,  plateau  of,  xii, 

Curico,  44. 

Cuyo,  province  of,  244. 

Cuzco,  xiv;  coUege  of,  128, 
158;  on  corregidores,  176, 
179;  panic  in,  186;  pre- 
pared for  war,  188 ;  abol- 
ishes repartimientos,  189 ; 
battle  of,  191,  246;  trade 
with  Arica,  304. 

Dangers  met  by  Kuiz  and 
Pavon,  280. 

Darien,  Indian  war  ended,  272. 

Dauxion  on  luxury  at  Caracas, 
318. 

Dead  hand,  King  opposed, 
300. 

Decline  of  Spain's  power,  xix. 

Decree  expelling  Jesuits,  104. 

Defeat  at  Puente  Real,  212. 

Del  Valle,  against  insurgents, 
192-194;    brutality,   194. 

Diario  erudito,  379. 

Diary  of  Segurola,  192,  n. 
198. 

Diego  and  Inca  at  Paucar- 
tambo,  191 ;  after  Inca,  197. 

Diguja,  Governor,  66;  suc- 
ceeds Zelaya  at  Quito,  102; 
prepared  to  expel  Jesuits, 
141. 

Disaster  at  Sangarara  church, 
187. 

Divine  right  of  Kings,  237. 

Dobrizhoffer,   76,  88. 

Dombey,  of  Botanical  Expe- 
dition, 278. 


Dominance    of    creole-mestizo 

class,  10. 
Dominicans,  their   instruction, 

46. 
Donations  to  church,  51. 
Draft    on   colonies   by    Spain, 

417. 
Dual   government,   173. 
Duke  of  San  Carlos,  298. 
Dundas  w^arns   Miranda,   336. 
Dutch,  in  Java,  3 ;  West  India 

Company,  62 ;  view  of  Santo 

Thome. 

Earthquake,  1730,  in  Chile, 
39;  1687,  42;  1746,  295; 
"divine   punishment,"   296. 

Ecclesiastics,  Spanish,  8. 

Echaurri,  Captain,  25;  ap- 
pointed  governor,   26. 

Economic  facts,  misinterpre- 
ted, 413. 

Ecuador,  x,  xiii;  under  New 
Granada,  99. 

Education,  lack  of  interest  in,. 
49. 

Election  in   Paraguay,   25. 

Elhuvar,  reforms  mining,  267, 
274. 

Emeralds  in  New  Granada,  51. 

"Emperor"  offered  to  Miran- 
da by  Ogden,  331  ;  refused 
to  join  Miranda,   333. 

Encomenderos,  2;  and  JesuitS; 
103. 

Encomiendas,  abuses  of, 
O'Higgins  on,  387;  incor- 
porated in  croAvn,  396. 

Endeiza,  house  plundered,  185. 

England  protects  Portugal,  27. 

English,  the,  in  the  Orinoco, 
1740,  69. 

English  colonies,  8;  goods  at 
Colonia,  166;  protection  of 
Venezuela,  324;  right  to 
fish,  392;  wares  in  Lima, 
399. 

Equality  on  fate  of  Indians,  2. 

Ercilla's   Araucana,   397. 

Escucla  de  la  Concordia,  258. 

Eslaba,  viceroy  of  New  Gra- 
nada, 55,  260. 

Espana,  revolutionist,  315. 

Espeleta,  viceroy,  258,  275. 


432 


SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 


Espinosa,      commandant      of 

Trinidad,  70. 
Essequibo,  slaves  of,  63. 
Estcvez,   Comun   council,   210. 
Estudios  de  Quito,  1791,  258. 
Europeans  vs.  Americans,  101. 
Execution  of  Aliaga,  184. 
Export  duties,  419. 
Expulsion    of    Jesuits,    Chap. 

IV;    decree    in    Chile,    137; 

as  an  event  in  history,  149; 

general  effect  of,  152. 


Fabro,  to  arrest  Cordova  Jes- 
uits, 112. 

Failure  of  colonial  system, 
425. 

Falkland  Islands,  170. 

Ferdinand  VI,  influenced  by 
Jesuit  rumors,  84;  succeed- 
ed by  Charles  III,  103. 

Ferdinand  VII,  391. 

Fernandez,  general  intendant, 
173,  245. 

Feudal  subjection  of  Indians, 
7. 

Feuvillee,  278. 

Fiesta  on  eve  of  Jesuit  expul- 
sion, 143. 

Flora  Bogotana,  276. 

Florez,  viceroy,  204;  resigned, 
224,  266. 

Florida  Blanca,  164. 

Flores  assists  La  Paz,  192, 
200. 

Food  problem  in  Venezuela, 
322. 

Forces   of  reductions,   85. 

Foreign  vessels  in  Pacific,  389. 

Foreign  invasion,  fear  of,  391. 

Foreigners  expelled  from 
Montevideo,  33,  34. 

Founder,  title  of,  131. 

France,  as  market,  41 ;  sup- 
ports Portugal,  27 ;  influ- 
ence of,  in  New  Granada, 
290. 

Frazier,  278. 

Free  trade,  effect  of,  339. 

French  academicians,  54;  in 
Ecuador,  56. 

French  importations,  36; 
merchants,  12. 


French  Revolution,  influence 
in  New  Granada,  277,  282; 
in  Lima,  381. 

French  trade,  1700-1715,  415. 

Funds  withdrawn,  38,  52,  178, 

Gaceta  de  Lima,  380. 

Galan,  Bartolome,  19. 

Galdn,  Jose  Antonio,  at 
Gudduas,  214;  fight  at 
Facatativa,  214;  ordered  to 
Honda,  214;  renews  the 
rebellion,  219;  chief,  222; 
executed,  223. 

Galvez,  Jose  de,  179. 

Garay,  Miguel  de,  19. 

Garcia,  P.  A.,  Mutis'  assist- 
ant, 270. 

Genoa,  Jesuits  would  settle  at, 
118. 

German  Jesuits  sent  to  Ger- 
many, 120. 

Gil  de  Toboada,  373,  378. 

Giron,  opposes  Comun,  215. 

Gonzalvez  Manrique,  Antonio 
and  Francisco,  50. 

Gorro,  Governor  of  Chile,  27. 

Government,  civil,  of  Para- 
guay, 19 ;  policy  towards 
Comun,  221;  weakness  of, 
101,  242. 

Governors,  provincial,   172. 

Gower,  General,  358. 

Gramuset  and  Berney,  232, 
235;  denounced,  237;  their 
fate,  239. 

Gran  Cliaco,  missions  of,  171. 

Great  Britain,  ambition  of, 
326 ;  cooperating  with  U.  S., 
329. 

Gruesso,  J.  M.,  257. 

Gual,  revolutionist,  315,  316; 
■ndth  Miranda,  329. 

Guamanga,  246. 

Guaranis,  detained  in  Buenos 
Aires,  124. 

Guayana,  61;  first  governor, 
62,  68,  313. 

Guill  y  Gonzaga,  135;  in 
Chile,  228. 

Guirior,  viceroy,  177,  178; 
goes  to  Peru,  266,  372;  ar- 
rives, 1773,  264;  Liberal, 
265. 


INDEX 


433 


Gumilla,  Padre,  on  crop  fail- 
ure, 68. 
Guayaquil,     port     for     Quito, 


Haciendas  of  Jesuits,  131. 

Haenke,  Tadeo,  293 ;  on  Lima, 
302. 

Hamilton,  Miranda  to,  326, 
327;  changed  view  of 
Miranda,  328. 

Herds  in  Argentina  and  Uru- 
guay, xvii;   of  Misiones,  65. 

Herrera,  Juan  Diaz,  in  Quito, 
99,  100. 

Hides  and  beef,  trade  in,  339. 

Honda,  xii. 

Hooper  intervenes  in  favor  of 
Spanish  on  Isthmus,  281. 

Hospitals,  300. 

Huaroehiri  in  revolt,  13. 

Huancavelica,  179,  246,  412; 
product,  423. 

Huidobro,  held  mint  monop- 
oly, 59. 

Humboldt  on  Spain's  sup- 
porting research,  281,  n. 

Ideals,  new,  11. 

Ideas,  imported,  10. 

Ignorance  of  lower  classes,  49. 

Immigration,  319. 

Import  duties,  419. 

Imprenta  de  los  Niiios  exposi- 
tos,  253. 

Inca's  titles,  193;  Inca  aj;id 
followers  prisoners  at  Cuzco, 
195 ;  in  new  state,  325. 

Indian  raids  on  Buenos  Aires, 
249. 

Indians,  in  Spanish  society, 
2 ;  adoption  by  Spaniards, 
7 ;  with  Creole-mestizo  party, 
8;  revolt  in  Peru,  13;  under 
mita,  14;  in  Uruguay,  31; 
uprising,  1723,  37;  oppose 
treaty  of  1750,  76;  and  re- 
moval of  Jesuits,  119;  op- 
pressed by  corregidores,  171, 
175;  after  Tupac,  202;  as 
laborers,  406^08. 

Independence,  spirit  of,  x. 

Industry,  Spain's  policy  on, 
413 ;  textUe,  414. 


Intellectual  awakening,  257, 
282. 

Inhabitants,  differing  groups 
of,  6;  of  Lima,  their  char- 
acter, 301. 

Inquisition,   304. 

Institutions  of  Lima,  298. 

Insurance   companies,   400. 

Insurgents,  in  Quito,  98-102; 
in  Trinidad,  320. 

Insurrection,   196,   202. 

Intendant,  168;  in  Cliile,  240; 
territory,  242 ;  in  Peru,  246, 
248. 

Intendancies,  169;  and  bish- 
oprics, 242;  their  capitals, 
243;   in  Chile,  246. 

Invasion,  312. 

Irrigation,  405. 

Isolation,  effect  of,  8. 

Jaurcgui,  Guirior's  successor, 
179;   in  Chile,  229,  372. 

Janszoon  Pater,  Adriaen, 
burns  Santo  Thome,  62. 

Juan  and  Ulloa,  13,  174,  176. 

Jesuits,  expulsion  of,  Cliap. 
IV;  xi,  XX,  15,  16,  17; 
driven  from  college,  20; 
hostility  to,  23,  24,  26;  re- 
instated in  Asuncion,  26; 
saw  Araueanian  danger,  36 ; 
their  instruction,  46;  land- 
owners in  Ecuador,  52 ;  in 
New  Granada,  57;  work  in 
education,  58;  hostility  to, 
66;  protest  to  audiencia, 
78;  oppose  treaty,  78;  in 
Quito,  100;  property  con- 
fiscated, 102 ;  and  encomen- 
deros,  103 ;  charges  against, 
104;  arrested  in  Buenos 
Aires,  108,  115;  church 
closed,  110;  arrested  at 
Santa  Fe,  110;  at  Cordova, 
112;  journey,  Cordova  to 
Ensenada,  113 ;  from  Spain, 
1766,  115;  drowned  in  Eio 
de  la  Plata,  116 ;  at  Buenos 
Aires,  117;  of  Chaco,  118; 
from  Chiquitos,  120;  Ger- 
man sent  to  Germany,  120 ; 
from  Paraguay,  123 ;  num- 
ber in  Misiones,  126;  in 
Peru,     127;     their     wealth. 


434 


SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 


128,  129,  130;  devotion  to 
Indians,  129;  their  slaves, 
130;  their  libraries  in  Peru, 
130;  property  in  Chile,  131; 
industries,  132;  houses,  133  ; 
relation  to  government, 
134;  at  Chilian,  134;  of 
Cuyo,  137;  from  Chile,  137- 
139;  their  pension,  140; 
from  Chile  to  Lima,  140;  at 
Quito,  141 ;  from  Quito  to 
Guayaquil,  142;  from  New 
Granada,  142-144 ;  routes 
145;  llanos,  145;  isolation 
147;  communism,  147;  resi 
dence  in  Europe,  149 
novices,  151;  effect  of  ex- 
pulsion, 263. 

Keyniis      quoted      on      Santo 
Thome,  62. 

King's  C.  K.,  aim,  328;  King, 
Miranda   visits,   327. 

Knox,  Miranda  to,  326. 

Labor    and    market    in    Chile, 

309. 
La  Condamine  in  Ecuador,  56. 
Le  Guayra,  xi,  314. 
Land  tax,  30. 
Landa,      and      Tupac,      187; 

Landa  killed,  187. 
La  Plata,  243 ;  archbishop  of, 

251. 
La   Paz,   besieged,    192,    197; 

position  of,  197  n.,  243,  253. 
La  Serena,  246. 
Laws  on  Indians  after  Tupac, 

202. 
"Leander"  offered  by  Ogden, 

331;   its  cargo,  331;   halted 

by  British,  333 ;  at  Granada 

334;   sold,  336. 
Leo,  Francisco  de,  revolt,  240; 

Bights  of  Man,  283. 
Liberalism,    opposed,    10. 
Libraries  of  Jesuits,  130. 
Library,  public,  with  Jesuits' 

books,   263. 
Life  in  cities,  410;  in  country, 

410. 
Lima  at  end  of  century.  Chap. 

XI;   position  of,  xiv,  4,  6; 

in   1746,  13,  168,   178,  246; 

position    of,    292;     popula- 
tion,      293;       walls,      293; 


streets,  295 ;  houses,  295 ; 
after  earthquake  of  1746, 
296  ;  social  character,  297  ; 
institutions,   298. 

Linnaeus   and   Mutis,   262. 

Liniers,  orders  on  desertion, 
353 ;  crosses  Rio,  354 ;  Mitre 
on,  355;  demands  Beres- 
f  ord  's  surrender,  356 ;  mili- 
tary chief,  357 ;  reply  to 
Beresford,  364. 

Liquors,  tax  on  sale,  420. 

Lisbon,  destroyed,  93. 

Literature,  periodical,  276. 

Llanos,  x. 

Loayza,  archbishop,  127, 

Local  government,  153,  154. 

Lobo,  captured  at  Colonia,  27. 

Looting  in  Oruro,   186. 

Lopez,  Tupac 's  instructor, 
181. 

Lopez,  S.  J.,  attacks  Mutis, 
277. 

Lorrain,  president  of  Quito, 
50. 

Lost  property,  423. 

Louis  I  succeeds  Philip  V,  54. 

Loyalty  in  New  Granada,  282 ; 
lovaltv  to  Spain  declines, 
417. 

Lozauo  quoted,  19,  n. 

Madariaga,  rector  of  Jesuit 
College,  137. 

Magdalena,  x,  xii. 

Mails  to   Venezuela,  323. 

Malouine,   170. 

Mandagure,  campaign  east  of 
Titicaca,  197. 

Manso  de  Velaseo,  Governor 
of  Chile,  41 ;  sells  titles, 
44;  founds  towns,  44;  vice- 
roy of  Peru,  45. 

Manso  Maldonado,  President 
of  New  Granada,  50. 

Mantiel  to  Ruiloba,  22. 

Maracaibo,  population  of,  317. 

Margarita  Island,  314. 

Markets  for  Chile  and  Peru, 
41. 

Markham  on  the  Inca,  189. 

Martinez,  B.,  pursues  comu- 
neros,  25. 

Marsden,  Popham's  letter  to, 
344. 


INDEX 


435 


Martin  Garcia,  treaty  of  1750, 
81. 

Mate  from  Paraguay,  338, 
398. 

Matiz,  Mutis '  draughtsman, 
270. 

Media  anata,  421, 

Melipilla,  founded  by  Manso, 
44. 

Melville  at  trial  of  Popliam, 
341. 

Mendoza  receives  Portuguese 
soldiers,  163. 

Mercurio  peruano,  38,  258, 
259,  379. 

Mena,  Juan  de,  executed  at 
Lima,  20;  daughter  in 
Paraguay,  20. 

Mendieta  commands  force  of 
clergy,  188. 

Mendinueta,  viceroy,  287. 

Mesia  de  la  Zerda,  143. 

Messner,  Padre,  122. 

Mestizos,  5;   in  Chile,  308. 

Middle  Class,  absence  of,  8. 

Military  affairs  in  Peru,  98; 
escort  at  missions,  146,  162. 

Mines,  Charles  III  would  re- 
vive, 378;  output,  424;  low 
state  of,  262;  and  the  mita, 
412;   fifth,  423. 

Minoa,   expedition   to,   62. 

Mint  for  Santiago,  43 ; 
monopoly,  58;  at  Popayan, 
59. 

Miranda's  expedition,  Chap. 
XII,  312,  324;  requests  of 
Great  Britain,  327 ;  on  U.  S. 
support,  326;  retained  in 
England,  330;  with  Smith 
and  Ogden,  331 ;  support 
from  Cochrane,  335;  ships 
attacked,  334;  takes  Coro, 
335. 

Missions  in  Orinoco  region, 
63-65 ;  support  from  royal 
treasury,  65 ;  of  the  plains, 
65;  Jesuits  expelled,  119, 
146;  of  Guaranis,  170,  243, 
266. 

Mitre  on  Liniers,  355. 

Mompo  in  Asuncion,  16-19. 

Monasteries,  conflicts  in,  14; 
at  Santo  Thome,  62;  in 
Chile,  231,  375. 


Mojos,  170, 

Molina,  Jesuit,  sent  from 
Chile,  140, 

Molina,  Antonio  de,  officer  of 
Comun,   210, 

Money,  lack  of,  53,  400, 

Monino,  to  treat  with  Portu- 
gal,  164, 

Monks,  4, 

Monopoly  of  alcohol,  99;  of 
food  by  Jesuits,  132. 

Monopolies,  42,  98,  265,  276, 
425.  "^ 

Monsalve,  Comun  council,  210. 

Montesclaros,  viceroy,  178, 
293. 

Montevideo,  xvii,  29,  30,  32, 
33,  110,  167,  170,  361. 

Morales,  Juan  Bautista,  sent 
to  England,  215;  impris- 
oned, 226. 

Morales,  F.  J.,  in  Cliile,  228. 

Moreno,  his  school  sysfapn,  263, 

Mules,  trade  in,  prices,  338; 
duty   on,  420. 

Mutis,  X,  260-276;  life  and 
writings,  277,  n. 

Nanguiru,  Nicholas,  84;  suc- 
ceeds, Sepee,  87. 

Narino,  x,  282;  prints  De- 
rechos  de  Hombre,  283 ; 
tried,  283-284 ;  defense, 
284  ;  escaped  at  Cadiz,  285  ; 
in  France,  286;  in  England, 
287;  conversion,  289;  im- 
prisoned by  King's  order, 
291. 

Nationalism  revived  in  Spain, 
9. 

Natural  sciences  in  Colegio 
del  Rosario,  276. 

Negroes  in  Chile,  309. 

Neiva,  riot  in,  220. 

Nemocon,  Indians  of,  221 ; 
fight  at,  222. 

New  Andalucia,  68. 

New  Granada,  xi,  50;  condi- 
tion of  people,  51 ;  viceroy, 
99,  154,  261. 

NevFton,  doctrines  of,  262, 

Nicholas  I,   87. 

Nieto,  Pedro,  207, 

Ninths,  royal,  421. 

Nitrate  deposits,  xv. 


436 


SPAIN'S    DECLINING    POWER 


Nobility    in    New    World,    1 ; 

titles  of,  409. 
Nobles  at  Lima,  297. 
Nootka  Sound,  324. 
Nordenflicht  in  Peru,  378. 
Noticias  secretas,  14,  56,  172, 

174. 
Nueva  Guayana,  63. 

Obando,  interim  governor  of 
Chile,   45. 

Obelar,   succeeds   Arregui,   24. 

Obrajes,  oppression  in,  180, 
185. 

Observationists,  64. 

Ocean  for  Indians  and  Span- 
iards, xiv. 

Official  delinquency,  12;  inde- 
pendence in  America,  416. 

Officials  in  America,  179; 
sent  from  Spain,  9. 

Offices  in  America,  1 ;  given 
to  ^Spaniards,  4 ;  sale  of, 
423. 

O'Higgins,  intendant,  246, 
273;  in  Peru,  282;  agricul- 
tural experiments,  386 ;  goes 
to  Peru  from  Chile,  392; 
work  in  Peru,  393. 

Olano,  Garcia,  207. 

Olavarrieta,    editor,    380. 

Olivares  sent  from  Chile,  140. 

Oppression  by  corregidores, 
175. 

Orders  instead  of  nobility, 
409. 

Ordinance  of  intendants,  173, 
242,  243,  245;  of  1802,  247. 

Orejuela,  Chilean  conspirator, 
235. 

Organization  iinder  inten- 
dants,  242. 

Orinoco,  x;    missions  of,  266. 

Oropesa,  Marquis  of,  181. 

Ortiz,  Secretary  of  Comun, 
210. 

Oruro,  xiv;  revolt  in,  185; 
looted,  186;  troops  from,  at 
La  Paz,  201. 

Osorio  and  crown  of  Comun, 
212. 

Paleozzi,  Padre,  died  at  Porto 

Bello.  123. 
Palos,  Bishop,  14,  24,  24. 


Polpaico,  Rojas'  estate,  235; 

Panama,  audiencia,  50;  in 
New  Granada,  58;  univer- 
sity, 58. 

Papel  Periddico,  258,  259. 

Paraguay,  x,  21,  24,  170; 
province  of,  244;  Indian 
population,   252. 

Paraguayans  and  reductions, 
15. 

Parlamento  with  Indians,  41. 

Patriotic  unions,  256. 

I'astoral  life  in  Venezuela,  xi. 

Patagonia,  sovereignty  over, 
169. 

Paula  Sanz,  general  intendant, 
245. 

Pavon,  Jose,  278. 

Peace    after    1723,    41. 

Pelota  at  Lima,  303. 

Pena's  inquiry,  346. 

Perdriel,   fight   at,   353. 

Peru,  xii,  xiv,  13;  internal 
state,  14;  viceroy  of,  15; 
and  Tupac's  forces,  191; 
intendencies,  246;  Botan- 
ical Expedition  to,  277. 

Peruvian  market  glutted,  398. 

Personal  service  abolished, 
396. 

Philip  II,  181. 

Philip  V,  ignorance  of  Amer- 
ica, 28;  appoints  Aponte 
governor,  35 ;  and  univer- 
sity, 47;  abdication,  54; 
death,     57;      sells     coining 

■     right,  58. 

Philippine   Islands,    105-107. 

Philippine  Company,  397,  399. 

Picton,  governor  of  Trinidad, 
326;  propaganda,  326;  plan 
329. 

Pimiento,  viceroy,  224. 

Pineres,  visitador  in  New 
Granada,  204,  207;  pre- 
pares for  flight,  212;  mal- 
administration, 266. 

Pisco,  Ambrosio,  honored  as 
Zipa,  216;  supports  Indians, 
222;  fate,  224;  returned  to 
Chia,  225. 

Pitt,  Miranda  with,  312,  324; 
returned  to  power,  1804, 
330;  plan  as  to  South  Amer- 
ica, 344. 


INDEX 


437 


Pizarro,  viceroy,  57,  59,  260. 

Plains  of  Argentina,  xvi,  253- 
255. 

Plata,  Comun   council,  210. 

Plaza,  quoted  on  property  of 
Jesuits,  448. 

Plaza  of  Lima,  294. 

Police,  secret,  of  Lima,  381. 

Politics,  interest  in,  Chap.  X. 

Popayan,    destroyed,    56. 

Popham,  on  expedition  to 
South  America,  330 ;  chosen 
to  command,  330 ;  ' '  Dia- 
dem," 341,  342;  weakness 
of  Cape,  343 ;  letter  to 
Marsden,  344 ;  to  take  Mon- 
tevideo, 346;  recalled,  359; 
to  Sterling,  360;  trial,  360; 
sentence,   360. 

Population,  in  Peru,  xv;  dif- 
ferences in,  5;  of  Chile,  39, 
46;  of  reductions,  79;  of 
Lima,  293 ;  decreasing,  425. 

Port  of  Spain,  capital  of 
Trinidad,  72. 

Port  charges,  424. 

Ports,  under  code  of  1778, 
168;    largo   and   small,   419. 

Portillo,  provincial,  127. 

Porto  Bello  and  trade,  167. 

Portugal  supported  by  Eng- 
land,  74. 

Portugese  after  armistice,  33; 
at  Colonia,  26;  advance  on 
Uruguay,  31 ;  defend  Colo- 
nia, 72;  at  Mendoza,  171. 

Patagonia,  settlements  on 
coast,  170. 

Paraguayan  missions  after 
Jesuits,  171. 

Post.  Lima  to  Buenos  Aires, 
374. 

Potosi,  xiv,  170,  243,  253; 
mules  taken  to,  338. 

Poverty  in  New  Granada,  51; 
in   Quito,  52. 

Prieto  Salazar,  mint  monop- 
oly, 58. 

Priest,  arrested  by  Viana,  91 ; 
on  alcohol,  59;  exactions  of, 
180. 

Primogeniture  in  Chile,  408. 

Prince  of  Bogota,  216. 

Printing  office  in  Buenos 
Aires,  252. 


Property  in  Paraguay,  con- 
fiscated, 24;  of  Jesuits  in 
Chile,  131. 

Protection,  Peru  vs.  Chile,  42. 

Protestant   miners,  267,   275. 

Provinces  of  Eio  de  la  Plata, 
170. 

Provincial 's  instructions  to 
Jesuits,  79. 

Public  works  planned  by  Solis, 
60. 

Pueyrredon  's   resistance,   353. 

Puente  Keal,  battle  of,  211. 

Puno,  siege  of,  197,  246; 
added  to  Peru,  393. 

Quesada,  advances  to  Bogota, 
xii. 

Quichua,  Kingdom,  xiii,  lan- 
guage, and  dramas  forbid- 
den, 190. 

Quina,  from  New  Granada, 
273. 

Quiroz,  Canon,  killed,  53. 

Quispicanchi,  Tupac  against, 
184. 

Quito,  seat  of  audieucia,  xiii ; 
position  of,  xiv.;  audiencia 
of,  50;  poverty  in,  52;  re- 
volt in,  98. 

Radical  philosophy,  389. 

Raleigh,  62. 

Rancagua.  44. 

Raynal,  319. 

Ecal    Decreto    de    Ejecucion, 

104. 
Real   estate   in   church   hands, 

301. 
Reductions,     the     seven,     23 ; 

ceded,   75,   85;    submit,  91; 

Indians  in  military  service, 

94;   of  Chiquitos,  120. 
Reform  needed,  172  ;  by  Cuzco, 

189;   internal,  376;   difficul- 
ties of,  426. 
Religious  houses  in  Lima,  299, 

n. 
Reseguin,      commands      Oruro 

troops,  201. 
Restrictions    by    Spain,    401- 

405. 
Residencia  inefficient,  41. 
Revenues  royal,  420-425. 


438 


SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 


Revolt,  of  Tupac,  extent  of, 
192;  local,  179;  in  Bogota, 
leaders,  207;    internal,  311. 

Revolution   in  Paraguay,   104. 

Revolutionists  sent  to  Spain, 
285. 

Reyes,  Diego  de  los,  16. 

Rimac  at  Lima,  xiv;  valley  of, 
298. 

Rio  de  la  Plata,  x;  viceroy- 
alty  of,  xiv;  takes  Colonia, 
27. 

Rio  Negro,  169. 

Rights  of  Man,  381. 

Riot  in  Quito,  100. 

River  systems,  x ;  of  the  south- 
east, 154. 

Road,  Santiago  to  Valparaiso, 
394. 

Rodriguez,  Tupac's  instructor, 
181,   183. 

Rodriguez,  M.  S.,  chief  of  Bo- 
gota  library,   275. 

Rodriguez,  Socorro,  Manuel 
de,  257. 

Rojas,  J.  A.,  with  Berney, 
233,  240. 

Rosas,  succeeds  Salcedo,  33. 

Rozas,  Ortiz  de.  Governor  of 
Chile,  45,  46. 

Rousseau,  works  of,  319. 

Royal  exactions  in  Chile,  229. 

Royal  orders  on  Colonia,  179. 

Ruiloba,  Governor  of  Para- 
guay, 17,  21,  22;  death,  23; 
his  murderers  executed,   25. 

Ruiz  de  Berecedo,  on  Univer- 
sity of  Chile,  47. 

Ruiz,  Jose,  studied  under  Wal- 
lerius,  267. 

Ruiz,  H.,  botanist,  278. 

Rumors  in  Europe  as  to  Jes- 
uits, 84. 

Salamanca,  Aponte's  nephew, 
35;  governor  of  Chile,  40; 
residencia,  41;  not  con- 
firmed by  king,  41. 

Salcedo  succeeds  Zabala,  31 ; 
Governor,  32;  lays  siege  to 
Colonia,  33;  deposed,  33. 

Sales  by  eorregidor,  175. 

Salt  tax,  424. 

Salta,  251;  mules  at,  338. 


Salinas  of  Nemocon,  221. 
Sangarara,  Landa  at,  187. 
St.    Bartholomew,    visited    by 

Narino,   287. 
San  Bernardo,  College  of,  128. 
"San   Esteban,"   frigate,  32. 
"San  Felipe,"  44. 
San  Fernando,  44. 
San  Gabriel,  island  added  to 

Spain,  164. 
San  Gil,  208. 
San  Ildefonso,  treaty  of  1777, 

164. 
San  Juan  River,  xiii. 
San  Jose  de  Oruiia,  in  ruins, 

69. 
San  Miguel,  ceded  pueblo,  90. 
Santa  Catalina  Island,  165. 
Santa  Cruz  de  la  Sierra,  Jes- 
uits of,  121,  170,  243. 
Santa    Fe,    Jesuits    arrested, 

110. 
Santa  Marta,  xii. 
Santa  Rosa  de  los  Andes,  44. 
Santiago,  valley  of,  xv,  4;  at 

end    of   eighteenth   century. 

Chap.    XI ;    intendency    of, 

246,  305-308. 
Santo    Thome,    61;     different 

sites,  63. 
Sorata  destroyed,  197. 
Saravia     denounced     Berney, 

237. 
Savages  disappear,  406. 
Science  and  politics,  x. 
Secretary  of  viceroyalty,  172. 
Segurola     at    La     Paz,     192; 

diary,   192-198,   202. 
Segur  in  Venezuela,  319. 
Seminario  critico,  380. 
Sentence  of  Tupac,  195. 
Sepee,  Guarani  chief,  87. 
Serena,  305. 

Settlers  at  Montevideo,  29,  30. 
Seville    in    Spain 's   commerce, 

167;  monopoly  broken,  168. 
Shipping     at    Buenos     Aires, 

337. 
Ships,  of  register,  42 ;  used  by 

Botanical    Expedition,    279. 
Siege  of  La  Paz,  198-202. 
Slaves,    165;     in    Chile,    309; 

trade  in,   74. 
Smallpox,  in  Chile,  39,  307;  at 

Trinidad,  69. 


INDEX 


439 


Smuggling,  effect  on  Peru, 
166. 

Sobremonte,  viceroy,  x,  357. 

Social  movements  in  Quito, 
177;  character  of  Lima, 
297;  classes  in  Peru,  395. 

Society,  designed  by  Spain,  1; 
Spanish  and  creole,  7,  9,  11; 
in  Chile,  306. 

Socorro,  revolutionary  center, 
206;  revolt  at,  207;  sus- 
pends taxes,  208;  document 
in  verse,  209;  insurgents, 
210. 

Solis  Folch,  viceroy,  59;  char- 
ity, 142;  enters  monastery, 
143,  260. 

Soroeta,  Governor  of  Para- 
guay, 16-19. 

Southeastern   districts,   154. 

Southey,  quoted,  79. 

Souza  Coutinho,  of  treaty 
commission,  164. 

Spain 's  control  of  Indians,  1 ; 
declining  power,  6;  declares 
war  on  Great  Britain,   330. 

Spanish-Creole  separation,  4 ; 
merchants,  12 ;  succession, 
war  of,  28;  defeat  at  San- 
garara,  187;  minister's 
activity,  332;  on  English  at 
Montevideo,  367;  on  ap- 
pointments, 383;  and  Brit- 
ish colonies,  426. 

Spaniards  on  new  ideas,  10; 
reinforced  at  Cuzco,  190. 

Squadron,  Pacific,  45. 

Stamped  paper,  423. 

State  designed  by  Miranda, 
325. 

Statistics  by  Solis,  61. 

Stevenson,  quoted,  156  n. 

Sterling,  Admiral,  358;  on 
Popham's  return,  359. 

Stock  companies,  412. 

Strays,  423. 

Suffering  of  Indians,  180. 

Superintendent  of  treasury, 
168,   173. 

Superunda  (Velasco),  13. 

Table   Bay,   British   squadron 

at,  344. 
Tafalla,   professor    of   botany 

at  Lima,  289. 


Talca,  44. 

Tallien  to  Narino,  286. 

Talmadge,    Judge,    on    "Le- 

ander's"  cargo,  331. 
Tarija,  Jesuits  at,  114. 
Tarma,  246. 

Taxes,  205;  in  Chile,  229-231. 
Tea  of  Bogota,  273. 
Tebicuary  River,  17-24. 
Temple,  quoted,  200,  n. 
Temperature  in  Venezuela,  xi. 
Tenants  on  estates,  410. 
Terms   granted    Buenos   Aires 

by  British,   351;    of  White- 

locke  's  surrender,  365. 
"Tertulia  eutropelica, "  257; 

"poetica,"  38. 
Tesorero    Manque cedor,    58. 
Textiles,  of  Quito,  53;  indus- 
try, 414. 
Theatre  at  Lima,  303. 
Tinta,  province  of,  181. 
Titles,  sold  in  Chile,  44,  420; 

taxed,  425. 
Toledo,  viceroy,  181. 
Tordesillas,    treaty    of,    74. 
Trade,     34;     Chile-Peru,    42; 

Rio   de  la   Plata,   166;    tea 

in    Bogota,    273,    323,    381, 

398. 
Traffic,  Buenos  Aires  to  Lima, 

338. 
Treachery  with  Tupac,  194. 
Treasury,  royal,  168,  173,  418. 
Treaty,     Spanish -Portuguese, 

28,  74,  75,  78,  95,  164. 
Tribute,  by  Indians,  16,  396, 

421. 
Trinidad,  revolt,  68-72,  323, 
Troops,  unpaid,  38,  84,  200,  n. 
Truce  with  reductions,  84. 
Tucuman,    34,   170,   243,    244, 

251. 
Turbaco,  residence  of  viceroy, 

272. 
Tupac    Amaru,    revolt,    Chap. 

VI,  177-217. 

Ulloa  and  Araujo,  54. 
Unanue,  Dr.,  380. 
Unemployed      in      Venezuela, 

320,  321. 
United    States,    influence    of, 

282;  in  New  Granada,  290; 

constitutions,    325,    390. 


440 


SPAIN'S    DECLINING   POWER 


Unions,  patriotic,  256. 

University  of  San  Felipe,  46- 
49;  of  San  Marcos,  258, 
299,  375;  at  Panama,  58. 

Upper  Peru,  xiv,  xv;  province 
of,  244. 

Uprising  in  Quito,  1765,  98; 
1782,  373. 

Uraba,  Gulf  of,  xii, 

Uriarte,  on  fort  at  Monte- 
video, 33. 

Uruguay,  x;  scene  of  contest, 
26. 

Utrecht,  treaty  of,  28. 

Valdelerios,  boundary  commis- 
sioner,  79. 

Valencia,  xi. 

Valenzuelas,  Elroy  de,  under 
Mutis,  269. 

Valparaiso,  305;  slave  market, 
310. 

Vancouver,  quoted,  394. 

Varinas,  province  of  Vene- 
zuela, 313, 

Vasconcellos,  Pedro  Antonio 
de,   commands    Colonia,    31. 

Vasconcelos,  Manuel  de  Gue- 
vara, captain-general  of 
Venezuela,  322,  336. 

Vargas,  Francisco,  207. 

Venezuela,  geography  of,  x; 
Chap.  XII;  provinces  of, 
313;  trade,  315;  population, 
317;  bad  state  of,  320-323. 

"Venus,  La,"  sails  with  Jes- 
uits, 113. 

Vera  Cruz,  and  trade,  167. 

Veraguas,  province  of  New 
Granada,  58. 

Vergara,  Francisco,  regent  of 
tribunal  of  accounts,  61. 

Vergara,  Padre  Manuel,  dies 
going  into  exile,  126. 

Vernon,  14;   his  plan,  312,  n. 

Vertiz,  as  governor,  161 ;  in 
command  after  Ceballos, 
163;  viceroy,  168;  settle- 
ments under,  169,  245,  250; 
establishes  a  theatre,  250 ; 
founds   printing  office,   252. 

Viana,  campaign  against  re- 
ductions, 85 ;  message  to  In- 
dians, 86. 

Viceroy,  of  Peru,  13;  repudi- 
ates treaty,  28;  Villa  Garcia 


on  Chilean  consulado,  44; 
Bucareli,  letter,  129;  power 
and  duties,  153 ;  of  Mexico 
and  Peru,  155;  relation  to 
audiencia,  156;  restrictions 
on,  156;  Stevenson  on,  156, 
n. ;  relation  to  Callao,  157 ; 
in  Buenos  Aires  permanent, 
168;  power  limited,  168;  re- 
port to  successor,  170; 
under  law  of  Indies,  172; 
powers  of,  243 ;  and  inten- 
dants,  244,  272;  in  Peru, 
177(>-1816,   372-373. 

Viceroyalty  of  Rio,  Chap.  VI; 
of  New  Granada,  55;  of 
Peru,  153 ;  of  Buenos  Aires, 
155,  158 ;  of  Buenos  Aires 
province,  159;  independence 
of  Peru,  161;  organization, 
170,  244. 

Viceregal  office  suspended,  50. 

Vieja    Guayana,   64, 

Vilcamayu,  troops  at,  194. 

Villegas,  J.  A.  de,  on  mines, 
262. 

Villegas,  Geronimo,  plans 
Lima   bridge,   294. 

Vine  culture  near  Mendoza, 
163. 

Voyage  to  South  America,  56. 

War,  England  and  Spain,  169. 

Warships  equipped  by  Amat, 
98. 

Wheat  in  Chile,  xv;  growing 
in  Peru,  42;  price  fixed  in 
Peru,  43,  405. 

Whitelocke  arrives  at  Buenos 
Aires,  362;  reply  and  sur- 
render, 365;  trial  and  sen- 
tence,  368. 

Women,  unmarried,  refused 
emigration,  5;  education  of, 
49. 

Yrujo,      Spanish      minister, 
war  on  Caracas,  333. 

Yturriaga  boundary  commis- 
sioner for  the  north,  79,  261. 

Zabala  in  Paraguay,  14,  21, 
24 ;  attacks  communeros,  25 : 
leaves  Paraguay,  26,  30-40. 

Zelaya  at  Quito,  101. 

Zapata,  leader  at  Nieva,  220, 

Zerda,  viceroy,  260,  264, 


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